RIGHT-WINGERS NOW SERIOUSLY SUGGESTING THAT EXTENDED INSURANCE COMPANY HOLD TIMES DIDN'T HAPPEN BEFORE OBAMACARE

I know the right-wing plan is to locate every single story of a glitch that can be linked to Obamacare and run every one through the Mighty Wurlitzer, but seriously, folks? Are you arguing that this never happened to anyone in the pre-Obamacare days?

... Paperwork problems almost delayed suburban Chicago resident Sheri Zajcew's scheduled surgery Thursday, but Dr. John Venetos decided to operate without a routine go-ahead from the insurance company. That was after Venetos' office manager spent two hours on hold with the insurer Thursday, trying to get an answer about whether the patient needed prior authorization for the surgery. The office manager finally gave up.

"I'm not a happy camper," said Nate Zajcew, the patient's husband. The couple signed up for a Blue Cross Blue Shield bronze plan through the federal HealthCare.gov site on Dec. 16. "I understand it's just a matter of paperwork and yesterday was a holiday. I can be an SOB, too, at times, but since they're going on with the procedure, it's OK." ...

Gosh, imagine if some practitioners had been kept on hold for two hours in the early days of Medicare Part D under President Bush ... oh, wait, they were. Imagine if Blue Cross ever kept people on hold for hours in the pre-O'care days ... oh, that used to happen, too, according to onholdwith.com, which has collected a set of real-time Twitter complaints about BC/BS going back a couple of years. And for right-wing idiots who think government and government-related services have a monopoly on long hold times, well, yeah, HealthCare.gov and the Postal Service hve been getting a lot of complaints lately, but what's the excuse for everyone else in onholdwith's current top ten?





I see a lot of private companies on that list. Know what I don't see? Medicare.

Single payer, anyone?