Alright, I kind of went at it w/ a conservative today.

I've been friends with this person for years via our children's playgroup. Currently she receives free health care from the government at a local military hospital and this is what she wrote:

"If anyone thinks that government health care is going to be great here's a little taste for you. I just spent 20 minutes on the phone TRYING to book an eye exam. End result was the ONLY available appt. is ************. If that doesn't work for me I am to call a different number to try to get a waiver to be seen elsewhere! This is for just an eye exam!! Scary."

I'm a clinician at this hospital, so this is what I wrote back:

"I know that it is sometimes fun to bash government health care, but as a physician at the institution you are criticizing, I think this might be an instructive moment.

You receive free health care from the government. If you don't like what the goverment offers, you are free to obtain private health insurance on your own. I suspect you won't or can't do that because it is hugely expensive...around $15K/yr for a family of four.

But since you are taking advantage of what the government offers, you will not be seen when it is convenient for you. That's the price you pay when you take advantage of the incredible offer of free health care. While waiting for a month for an elective eye exam may seem inconvenient, the system is not designed for your personal convenience. It is designed to take care of as many soldiers and their families on a constrained budget. If you would like the Military Health Care system to be more convenient, you can write your congressperson and ask them to increase funding for military hospitals so that they can have shorter wait times. In this climate, I'm doubtful anyone would take you seriously.

The one last thing I would like to say is that I take offense at the notion that because you have to wait a little longer for an elective visit that this is somehow "scary", as if it has anything to do with the quality of care provided by *******. Nothing could be further from the truth, and you should know this from personal experience.

Anyways, I wish you would realize that you have friends that work at ******, and are a little hurt that you would use Facebook to malign the place we work at and dedicate our lives to."

So, did I take it too far? I'm feeling a little nervous about it.