My older brother is an extreme conservative Republican and I deal with his politics on a daily basis. I am thrilled to have a week’s respite while he is on vacation to visit his daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren. It is all the more delicious knowing that his only child and her husband are staunch Obama supporters and that their state (North Carolina) went blue this election. No Faux News for a week whoo-hoo!
What makes the trip even more delicious is winning the war over health care right before he left. My brother started by saying that something has to be done about health care and then before he could go on I just jumped in. I got him on the lady who had seven heart attacks but couldn’t get a heart monitor because Medicaid wouldn’t cover it. That took out argument number one that the States are doing okay and can handle the increase in health insurance recipients.
He works registration at the local hospital and knows that the numbers of unemployed and people who have lost their insurance are rising. That point he had to agree with me on but before he could go on I hit him with argument number two the number of insurances that drop patients for “preexisting” and life threatening illnesses. I see that all the time in the Business Office. I then hit him with one of my biggest arguments that neither his mother nor I could get insurance if she wasn’t on Medicare and if I wasn’t getting it through the hospital where we work. He had to admit that he couldn’t get insurance on his own when he tried because he had been in one auto accident years ago and the medical insurance companies were holding it against him.
He then tried the “how do you like our current insurance” angle and I told him it was doing okay so far but under the government program we could keep it if we wanted but I bet they wouldn’t be as picky about what medicines they would cover if they had government competition. Considering that they won’t cover the stronger Ambien that he needs to stay asleep but only the weaker one cuts out an argument there.
What makes the trip even more delicious is winning the war over health care right before he left. My brother started by saying that something has to be done about health care and then before he could go on I just jumped in. I got him on the lady who had seven heart attacks but couldn’t get a heart monitor because Medicaid wouldn’t cover it. That took out argument number one that the States are doing okay and can handle the increase in health insurance recipients.
He works registration at the local hospital and knows that the numbers of unemployed and people who have lost their insurance are rising. That point he had to agree with me on but before he could go on I hit him with argument number two the number of insurances that drop patients for “preexisting” and life threatening illnesses. I see that all the time in the Business Office. I then hit him with one of my biggest arguments that neither his mother nor I could get insurance if she wasn’t on Medicare and if I wasn’t getting it through the hospital where we work. He had to admit that he couldn’t get insurance on his own when he tried because he had been in one auto accident years ago and the medical insurance companies were holding it against him.
He then tried the “how do you like our current insurance” angle and I told him it was doing okay so far but under the government program we could keep it if we wanted but I bet they wouldn’t be as picky about what medicines they would cover if they had government competition. Considering that they won’t cover the stronger Ambien that he needs to stay asleep but only the weaker one cuts out an argument there.
My biggest success was a preemptive strike when I said it was stupid to argue against a government run program when the most successful programs out there are Medicare and Tricare. Mom is on Medicare and they pay for most of her services and he is on Tricare that picks up what his regular insurance doesn’t. He couldn’t argue with either one. By that time he ran out of steam and I was able to wish him a nice trip and retired to my computer with a smile on my face.
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