By Phoebe Sweet, Nevada State Democratic Party
On national cable television, Sue Lowden is now being roundly mocked for suggesting patients should barter with their doctors for health care.
Today, she inartfully tried to clarify her remarks by saying that “currently, there are number of medical doctors in Nevada and across America who already accept cash, check and credit cards. This isn’t a plan, this is fact. Usually, doctors will offer a lower payment in an agreement with patients because it saves them the hassle of dealing with insurance companies,” Lowden said.
Of course, her comment only served to underline just how out of touch she is with, well, normal people–people who don’t have eight and a half bathrooms and $50 million in the bank, people who might not have the cash to pay for lunch out of pocket, let alone laparoscopic surgery.
Pressed further for a coherent explanation, Lowden’s campaign is now refusing comment.
Regarding reaction to the story about her gaffe, the readers at Talking Points Memo had some choice words for Lowden and her bartering ideas. See reader comments below:
· “I’ll give you 5 chickens, a shotgun and a woman of child-bearin’ age for my appendectomy, doc. And that’s my final offer!”
· “I just called my doctor and he won’t take a 1973 Dodge Dart with a new motor for my upcoming yearly physical, which runs about $600 and that includes prostate exam. I offered to throw in 3 dead squirrels and a live chicken and still no deal! Heck I even went so far as to offer to mow his lawn for a month and he still shot me down!”
· “Bizarrely there’s an existing system for effectively haggling with doctors. They’re called insurance companies.”
