My argument with an idiot.

Hello folks (If there is in fact, anyone still reading this site). It’s been a while, and I just thought I’d give our friend Phobia a hand by submitting a little argument with a local radio morning show DJ (I refer to the entire show as being hosted by ‘the trio of idiots’), concerning our current health care debate.

The conversation follows:

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 8:33 AM, Jon Kelley wrote:

So, I’m curious. Before I get to my question, though, I thought I’d let you know first-off, that I am what you would term as a ‘right-wing nutjob’, and I haven’t listened to Sean Hannity for probably more than a year. He drives me nuts, and he’s become nothing more than a mouthpiece for the republican party. To him, the party can do no wrong. I don’t think that way.

Anyway, whenever you talk about our nations health care on the air, you always switch to your Hannity voice and mock, “we have the best health care system in the world.” By doing this, it seems to me that you believe that we DON’T, in fact, have the best health care system in the world. So I would like to ask, do you believe this, or are you just taking the opportunity to take another shot at Mr. Hannity? Or is it some other reason alltogether? If you do think this, I’d like to know why you think that socializing our system would help (if that is, indeed, what you think would help).

I’d just like to figure this out, because I think that we DO have the best health care in the world. Having been treated in other countries, and having friends that were treated in other countries (all of which were first world, highly industrialized nations), I have first-hand knowledge of this particular subject.

Thank you for your reply,

Jon Kelley
Cpl. U.S.M.C. (Hon. Discharged)

–To which the local DJ (I’m just going to call him Bob) replied:

Subject: Re: Health care

Here’s one statistic….35th on the list for infant mortality.  That is, there are 34 countries ahead of us who have lower rates of babies dying before the age of 1.

–Now, it seemed to me that Bob didn’t do his homework on this particular subject before he ran his mouth, and it turns out, after about 30 seconds of Googling, I was right.

I replied thusly:

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 10:31 AM, Jon Kelley wrote:
44th, actually ( https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html#top ) but there are also 179 countries that have a higher infant mortality rate than we do.

Also, you didn’t mention how socializing our system is going to help.

From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality )
A 2006 article in U.S. News & World Report claims that “First, it’s shaky ground to compare U.S. infant mortality with reports from other countries. The United States counts all births as live if they show any sign of life, regardless of prematurity or size. This includes what many other countries report as stillbirths. In Austria and Germany, fetal weight must be at least 500 grams (1 pound) to count as a live birth; in other parts of Europe, such as Switzerland, the fetus must be at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) long. In Belgium and France, births at less than 26 weeks of pregnancy are registered as lifeless.^[4] And some countries don’t reliably register babies who die within the first 24 hours of birth. Thus, the United States is sure to report higher infant mortality rates. For this very reason, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects the European numbers, warns of head-to-head comparisons by country.”  ( http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060924/2healy.htm. )

–Sadly, this last paragraph seemed to flow in through his eyeballs, and out his ass.

Well, it seems pretty clear to me how socialized medicine helps this situation. However, if you’d like me to spell it out, I will.  The countries ahead of us, most of them, have very advanced medical techniques at their disposal…just like America.  With socialized medicine almost all (probably all) pregnant women have access to pre-natal care at no cost or low cost.  Okay?

–You think I hit a nerve there? He seems a little upset that I crushed his thoughts with facts, and managed to make his entire argument invalid.

Sadly, this was the end of our conversation, as the reply I sent to him went unanswered, and my e-mail ‘sent’ folder has deleted the letter. I remember I made mention about who would pay for said health care, as the rich will only shell out so much before they go away, and how China wouldn’t foot the bill for our deficits anymore, but beyond that, I don’t recall where I went with anything. Poor me.

–Jon Kelley