Crazy Wingnut Healthcare Attacks Exposed ~ Bob Cesca

[mzmolly]

The other day, I overheard a random "Republican analyst" on MSNBC's The Ed Show suggest that the public option should never be implemented because of the DMV. This was her whole thing. The DMV. According to her logic, the DMV, which is run by state governments, is really slow and awful and therefore the public option would force us to wait in line for medical treatment.

My first reaction was that this lady has clearly never been to an emergency room. When I crashed while cycling last year, I waited in an ER exam room with a fractured T10 for nearly two hours before a doctor popped into the room. And I was pretty lucky to be seen so quickly. Contrastingly, I've never once waited in line at a DMV for any longer than 10 or 15 minutes in my entire life.

The last time I renewed my driver's license, it took less than five minutes. If I ever have the privilege of sitting in a doctor's office waiting room and, subsequently, the exam room, for less than five minutes I'll voluntarily pay triple the fee and send the doctor an enormous gift basket filled with, you know, a Lexus.

All in all, we can only wish that private healthcare was as efficient and speedy as the DMV.

It's a great read. Much more at link > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/crazy-wingnut-healthcare_b_243075.html">HUFF PO

[Ikonoklast]

1. I was in ER waiting with a fairly severe laceration once.

They had a heart attack come in, then two car crash victims, and they kinda forgot about me for a while.

I understand triage, but these people were bundled off to surgery just as fast as they were stabilized and whisked out of the ER.

When I finally passed out and hit the floor in a big puddle of blood, they remembered what I was there for.




I can renew my plates by mail in my state, for the price of a stamp and a handling fee. My drivers license took all of ten minutes, including the waiting time.

And I never passed out while waiting for them to remember I was there, still waiting patiently.

[mzmolly]

2. I remember bringing in a sick child who I was told should be seen right away,

we left after a two hour wait as the fever went down. Additionally, my aunt who was in heart failure at 80 years old sat for over eight hours waiting for help in an ER. Unfortunately there are many stories like yours it seems?

I'm so sorry about your experience. And, I'm glad that Cesca brought up the ER as I might not have considered it?

[Ikonoklast]

3. At least I had the option of going to different DMV offices to take care of business.

The HMO I belong to will not pay for me to go anywhere but their hospitals, unless a life-threatening emergency is involved.

And even then, they will have you transported out of there as soon as you are stabilized and taken to their hospital.


The last thing I remembered was the people at the front desk telling each other how busy they were that evening, and then feeling really nauseous, then waking up with an IV and some fresh sutures, and some really concerned faces.

[mzmolly]

4. Very true.

Glad eventually things worked out for you. Sheesh, what an experience!

[mzmolly]

5. .

[mzmolly]

6. Crazy wingnuts seem to be "un-recommending" this thread as well?

:crazy:

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I think this 'DMV' thing only resonates in some areas where the DMV is notoriously understaffed.

In other areas, it's fairly meaningless. I hear lots of complaints about lines at the DMV from people in HEAVILY populated areas -- NY/NJ, LA -- not much place else. The complaint there should be that more money needs to spent to hire permanent staff, not that the people who work there are somehow screwing up. Got that? It's INSUFFICIENT gov't spending, not gov't itself, that is the problem. You can pay (trivially) more in taxes, or you can pay with your time. No complaining if you make the wrong choice.

Getting my license transferred from state to state, or renewed, has been a fairly brainless exercise that takes all of 10 or 15 minutes once a year or less. The DMV is not any enemy of mine, and Repugs can't make it one.

Insurance companies, on the other hand ...

[mzmolly]

8. I spent all of five minutes at the local DMV last week

renewing my DL. There were four people on staff and two in line. ;)

[KharmaTrain]

9. The DMV is a State NOT Federal Agency...

And in my state they wouldn't want to go there. In the 90's, the DMV was run by George Ryan who took payoffs to issue drivers licenses to unsafe drivers that not only led to his conviction on bribery, but the needless death of a family whose van was hit by one of those drivers who greased Ryan's wheels. A license renewal was an all-day affair. Now the Democrat, Jesse White, has streamlined the system and made it far more efficient. Earlier this year, my license renewal took less than 30 minutes. So we know what a government run program run by the GOOP is. The irony of their corrupt party is they hate government so much they want to dominate it.

[mzmolly]

10. Re: the DMV being state run, that an excellent

point.

I had forgotten about the George Ryan scandal. YIKES!