Selling Your Competence 33
ing home, it’s probably costing you upwards of $3,500 a month to
keep her there. When you run out of money, your mother runs
out of care. That’s not fair!”
Or, “A woman in Detroit just had her dialysis machine re-
moved from her home. She can’t afford the payments. That means
you and I have sentenced that woman to die!”
There were lots of other truthful, dramatic stories that really
got us to pay attention. They were selling their plan.
More than they want to know
Then they made the mistake of trying to explain all the minute
details of a healthcare plan that looked like a book the size of the
federal budget or an IRS tax code.
We simply lost interest.
And while this was putting us into a coma with anesthetics
such as, “Forty percent of the population of the six largest cities
will only qualify for 8 percent of the reimbursed funds in 16 per-
cent of the for-profit healthcare institutions providing equivalent
quality of patient care...zzzzzzzzz,” on came Harry and Louise in
TV commercials sponsored by anti-Clinton health care forces.
Harry: Louise, if their rotten healthcare scheme goes through, you
won’t be able to see Dr. Gordon!
Louise: I won’t???
Harry: No. They’re going to force you to see some other doctor,
one they pick for you.
Louise: But I’ve been with Dr. Gordon for 15 years.
Harry: Well, they’re not going to let you see him.
Louise: But he already knows everything about my condition.
Harry: That doesn’t matter to them. They want to be big brother.
They think they know better what’s good for you.
Louise: How can they do that?
Harry: It’s a big, bureaucratic boondoggle. It’s a lousy healthcare
scheme and we have to fight for our rights. The little guy
just doesn’t count any more.
Each side began with what we wanted to know, but one side
got long-winded, droned on and on and dropped the ball. It was
no contest.