An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Opposing Views: Personal Responsibilty VS Gimme
You may have received a forwarded email, or saw a forum posting, siting a Dr from Mississippi addressing the ‘health care’ issue. I had received it previously, but after reading, deleted it, because there was no back up info. Well, I received it again this morning, with the necessary clarification. I clicked on the link to Snopes, and found not only the “letter to the editor” at the Clarion, correctly attributed, but a rebuttal from another reader.
Dr Roger Starner Jones’ letter:
Why Pay For The Care Of The Careless?
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as “Medicaid”! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman’s health care? I contend that our nation’s “health care crisis” is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a “crisis of culture”, a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me
Once you fix this “culture crisis” that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you’ll be amazed at how quickly our Nation’s’ health care difficulties will disappear.
While Dr Starner Jones is on to something, obviously, this wouldn’t solve ALL the problems, but it’s a darn good start. Get rid of the dependency mentality. No one OWES you a damn thing!
The “rebuttal” is also quite telling:
Health Care Reform is Not “Us vs Them”
I’ve been stewing about an Aug. 23 letter to the editor (“Why pay for the care of the careless?) in which which Dr. Starner Jones questioned the worth of a patient to receive Medicaid because of her gold tooth, tattoos, R&B ring tone on a new cell phone, cigarette-smoking and beer-drinking.
This kind of personal attack is nothing new with the hateful rhetoric of late. But it’s a real slippery slope when one questions whether another human merits support for health care because of appearances and choices. There are a lot of folks in this state who make less-than-perfect choices about finances and health. We are the poorest, fattest state, after all.
We need to turn off our TVs and radios and do our own research on health care reform. All the Fox-fed and MSNBC-led masses are out spewing the same language the pundits are using.
Look at entities who, bottom line, want to raise their rating and celebrity, not facilitate a meeningful or productive discourse.
This country deserves more. Read the health care reform bill. And learn the real issues of our entire community. We’re all Americans.
This is no “us vs. them” issue. We are all in this together.
Jennifer Sigrest
Clinton
Wow. It seems that Mzzzzzz Sigrest totally missed the point of the good Dr’s letter. It was NOT a “personal attack” on the patient. The letter simply points out what many of us our here in the real world realize……if you CHOOSE to pay for a gold tooth, numerous tattoos, expensive sneakers, and a cell phone bill, you could damn well CHOOSE to get your own health care insurance, instead of relying on the taxpayers. This kind of mentality is breaking the bank, and it’s not a health care issue….it is a SOCIETAL issue.
Which one of those items listed are necessary to this person’s health, and well being? Is it the sneakers? No, you find a perfectly good pair of shoes at any number of places that are reasonably priced, even if they aren’t the latest ‘must have’ for the streets. How about the tattoos? I don’t have any tattoos, and won’t, for personal reasons, but if you can afford them, and you think it’s the right thing for you, who am I to say you can’t? A decent tattoo, from what I gather, could cost from $100 on up, depending on quality, placement, etc. $100? For having someone poke needles in your bod? How many tattoos does it take to pay for the cost a health insurance premium?
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.
One other thing that was brought up in Mzzzzzz Sigrest’s letter – the talking heads. Well, I, for one, have read a large majority of this piece of crap legislation. Has she? And I certainly do not base my opinion on someone who is yapping at me from the idjit box, or radio!
It’s way past time for the people of this country to turn off the spigot! The well has run dry!
