FACT CHECK: Did Nancy Pelosi Say, ‘Waiting Hours Longer In The Waiting Room Will Allow You To Make New Friends’?

An image shared on Facebook claims that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “Waiting hours longer in the waiting room will allow you to make new friends.”

Screenshot/Facebook

“Yes, she actually said this,” reads the meme.

Verdict: False

The quote originated on a satire website in 2014. There is no evidence that Pelosi ever said this.

Fact Check:

On Jan. 16, 2014, Reuters reported that wait times for emergency care could increase under Obamacare, citing a report by emergency physicians.

That same day, an article appeared, supposedly penned by Pelosi herself, that addressed this prospect directly. “I doubt such dire fears will ever come true,” it quotes her as saying. “But for argument’s sake let us presume I am wrong (which I never am) and that ‘Obamacare’ will force Americans to wait in emergency rooms longer than they already do. In that case, has it ever occurred to people the great new friends that can be made while waiting for hours in abject misery alongside others also in abject pain and misery?”

At the top of the article, Pelosi is quoted as making the remark found in the meme.

If these words sound far-fetched, that’s because they come from Duh Progressive, a political satire website. Pelosi’s office told Politifact in 2014 that the congresswoman never made this statement, and we found no news clips or press reports suggesting that she did.

Though Duh Progressive has a disclaimer noting that it’s a satire website, the meme shared on Facebook not only fails to issue a similar warning, it deceptively insists that the quote is real.