In general, I stay away from political discussions with my Republican coworkers. Since I work in a conservative town in North Carolina - this means I don't have many opportunities to talk politics during the day. I have found one exception - a died-in-the-wool Northern conservative (less right-wing fundamentalist than the varieties found in the wild in these parts). Her family is from New York - but she and her husband and both of their extended families are long-time conservatives - all of them voting for McCain/Palin in the last election. She has a good job working for a hospital - her husband worked for local government until he was laid off recently. I'm a physician and life-long Democrat. Despite our political differences, we both laugh at Jon Stewart, and kid eachother good-naturedly about our political affiliations. Last week she wanted to talk about what "my guy Obama" was going to do about healthcare. So we talked. And I realized that the country lost a great opportunity for Universal Health Care.
So my conserva-friend asked me what I thought about the whole healthcare reform debate. I responded that I was disappointed that there was not a plan for universal, single payer care and that it was a waste of time if there was no public option. Her eyes glazed over.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"I don't understand the whole thing. How is it supposed to work? And how can we afford it? And how do we keep illegals from getting free healthcare? I just don't think big government healthcare will work."
So we talked about how costs should be compared to what costs will be if we do nothing. And we talked about what she would do for healthcare if she and her husband lost their jobs. And we talked about "illegals" and how the best way to deal with that is not muddying the healthcare debate - but to address the issue of immigration separately. And then I said:
" I just wish we could have Medicare for everyone."
" So do I," she said.
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I asked if I had heard her correctly. "Isn't Medicare big-government-run-healthcare?"
"I don't know," she said. "I just know that my folks have it and they like it. These exchanges and public options and mandates are confusing and just scare me."
So there you have it. Universal healthcare was written off before the negotiations even started. The oppposition to reform has relied totally on creating fear (fear of change, fear of the unknown, etc.). It is arguably much harder to scare folks about "socialist, fascist, death panel creating, immigrant loving, poor quality healthcare proposals," when they know grandma already has it and likes it.