Not always the case but far too often.
Jul 19, 2017 18:19:53 #
This is something I received in an email from a reputable source. It is only one case, and perhaps the exception, but at the same time, I have, on several occasions, watched someone pay for their groceries with an EBT card, and then plop down $60 for a carton of cigarettes. Just saying the system needs more checks and balances. This isn't just a right or left issue since we are all paying for the misuse. It does, however, buy more votes for the dark side. I'm sure that ss, tward, dirt, baz, and the rest of the liberals enjoy paying for it, being retired, I don't.
Dear Mr. President:
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 on 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.
Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD
Dear Mr. President:
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 on 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.
Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD
Jul 19, 2017 18:24:11 #
Jul 19, 2017 18:29:58 #
USNPilot, you should have included the rest, a rebuttal, and a rebuttal to that.
Your post was published 23 August 2009 in a letter to the editor of Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion Ledger. From Snopes,
"On 6 September 2009, the Clarion Ledger published a follow-up letter from another reader under the title “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 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 ratings and celebrity, not facilitate a meaningful 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
Dr. Jones submitted another letter to the Ledger which was published (under the title “America Is Still the Land of Opportunity — for Everyone”) on 11 January 2010:
I continue to receive numerous phone calls, letters, emails and face-to-face comments about my letter (“Why Pay For the Care of the Careless”) which appeared in your newspaper a few months ago.Most people express highest approval for the opinion set forth. Indeed, the truth has an illuminating quality all its own.
However, a few have disagreed and all of them falsely assume that a person who holds the views which I espouse must have been raised in a privileged home. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I grew up in a lower middle class, single parent home in the rural hill country of Pontotoc, Mississippi. While attending public schools, I paid attention in class and did my homework. I ran with the right crowd and stayed out of trouble. My dedication in school resulted in a full-paid scholarship to the prestigious University of the South in Sewanee, TN. After college, I left to go to medical school with everything I owned in three bags. The rest is history.
Motivation, not entitlement, is the key to personal success and happiness in life".
Your post was published 23 August 2009 in a letter to the editor of Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion Ledger. From Snopes,
"On 6 September 2009, the Clarion Ledger published a follow-up letter from another reader under the title “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 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 ratings and celebrity, not facilitate a meaningful 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
Dr. Jones submitted another letter to the Ledger which was published (under the title “America Is Still the Land of Opportunity — for Everyone”) on 11 January 2010:
I continue to receive numerous phone calls, letters, emails and face-to-face comments about my letter (“Why Pay For the Care of the Careless”) which appeared in your newspaper a few months ago.Most people express highest approval for the opinion set forth. Indeed, the truth has an illuminating quality all its own.
However, a few have disagreed and all of them falsely assume that a person who holds the views which I espouse must have been raised in a privileged home. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I grew up in a lower middle class, single parent home in the rural hill country of Pontotoc, Mississippi. While attending public schools, I paid attention in class and did my homework. I ran with the right crowd and stayed out of trouble. My dedication in school resulted in a full-paid scholarship to the prestigious University of the South in Sewanee, TN. After college, I left to go to medical school with everything I owned in three bags. The rest is history.
Motivation, not entitlement, is the key to personal success and happiness in life".
Jul 19, 2017 18:37:34 #
rmalarz wrote:
USNPilot, you should have included the rest, a reb... (show quote)
I think my prequel to the quote was sufficient. I did not delve into rebuttals. But you handled that brilliantly. Kudos.
Jul 20, 2017 11:31:05 #
There are ALWAYS those who game the system. Do you really want the others to suffer because 10% take advantage? I know I would not want a child to go hungry because the parents are unfit. One also has to think about the culture these people are born into. For many people, change is difficult, and many times impossible. Are we to judge them unworthy of help? Thowe who don't want the 'unworthy' to get help are most times the same ones who are opposed to a living wage.
Jul 20, 2017 11:33:51 #
Caregivers, neighbors,and family members often do errands for the disabled and elderly, but it's still legal for people
to smoke, and they may judge you for your expensive camera you don't need. You do have one I presume?
to smoke, and they may judge you for your expensive camera you don't need. You do have one I presume?
Jul 20, 2017 11:49:21 #
amyinsparta wrote:
There are ALWAYS those who game the system. Do you really want the others to suffer because 10% take advantage? I know I would not want a child to go hungry because the parents are unfit. One also has to think about the culture these people are born into. For many people, change is difficult, and many times impossible. Are we to judge them unworthy of help? Thowe who don't want the 'unworthy' to get help are most times the same ones who are opposed to a living wage.
The main issue is not whether a person is worthy of help or not. It is where that help comes from.
The federal government does not exist to meet any individual's needs. That is up to the local society to do.
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