I'm sure you've seen on Facebook the letter written by a Mississippi ER doctor stating his opinion of healthcare reform, using one of his patients as an example of why the healthcare bill should not pass. (This was written in August 2009.)
Here is the snopes.com link:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp
I posted a status update about my thoughts of re-posting this letter in agreement, but a status update only allows for so many characters, and I felt the need to rip the letter apart.
First, I will say that I do not think those who spend excessive amounts of money on non-essential things for themselves should be allowed to receive government aid.
However, this doctor based his letter on one person. Albeit, one person who seems to be like the others who appear to not deserve said aid.
Dr. Starner Jones points out some of his observations of the patient's materialistic possessions - a gold tooth, tattoos, tennis shoes, and a cell phone with a special ringtone. He also mentions her heavy smoking habit and alcohol use.
In the patient's defense, she may not have always been on Medicaid, and she could have gotten the tattoos done before that. They also could have been done for free, by a friend, perhaps. The tennis shoes could have been gotten at a thrift store or from even a clothing bank, and the cell phone, well, she could have gotten it for free and it came with the ringtone. It's possible.
While I believe Dr. Jones' letter is in accordance with HIPPA (there is nothing identifying who the patient is and what she was treated for), I have to wonder if it really is, based on the Labor and Delivery nurses' blogs I read - they are no longer allowed to post stories about births without changing nearly everything about the story, so that the story ends up being fictional. Keeping with that logic, is Dr. Jones' story even true? If not, and simply based on truth, he has created a fictional character with characteristics that annoy even the most tenderhearted people about who is benefitting from government assistance. So, I guess my point is this story Dr. Jones relayed could be fictional. And it could also be violating HIPPA. (Could being the operative word, as I am not a 100% expert on HIPPA.)
Also what bothers me is I caught a person (or people) who has (have) been "that patient," reposting in agreement with the Facebook version of the letter. Can you say hypocrite?
I know people like "that patient." Yes, I am embarassed by their irresponsible actions. But I know that for some of them, even if they didn't spend any extra money on their material desires, they would still need government assistance.
It's so easy to say, "If they would just ...," but the reality is until you have been there, you don't know how hard it is to work two jobs, hardly ever have free time, and still not have enough money for healthcare at the end of the month. To those of you who know me, you know I haven't been there personally. But I have seen people who have been there. And I know that if I was not blessed with supportive, future thinking family, I could very easily be there, and possibly worse.
I thought of a solution for this problem, though. When organizations want to spend public money, they have to provide receipts for how the money was spent, and they have to spend according to strict guidelines. I propose we make anyone or anything who receives government money to do the same.
This could be beneficial in so many ways. First, the recipient would be aided in budgeting resources. Second, the government could use the statistics on how money was spent, budgeted, and what was still needed (or leftover) to study ways to make necessary things affordable, where more or less money should be allocated, and where to put shopping, housing, and public education so that it best benefits those in need of it.
This patient of Dr. Jones is one, not all, of the faces of those receiving government aid. It is not fair to those who truly need it to be denied because some people abuse it.
