Letter from Dr. to Obama goes viral: Claims we have a "Culture Crisis" not a "Health Care Crisis"

[Ethersync]

This is spreading all over Facebook and the web:

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 pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, 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.

Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD

[CaptainHowdy]

Off with his head...

[GotGauge]

I get all my Narcotics from the ER with fake injuries.

Same Story with
Welfare
Unemployment
Other Programs

[DWB]

That Doctor is a racist.

[DWB]

Oh... and guess the race of his patient?

[ReGGs]

Dear Mr. President,
I don't want to pay for black peoples healthcare.

/s

[Slappin Fish]

Same old variation on the scrounger argument. Was expecting better from an MD

[czarina]

actually I think he is right. If someone has money to pay for cigarettes, beer and fast food, why do the taxpayers have to pay for that person's health care?

[tonyparra]

Originally Posted by DirtyWhiteBoy

Oh... and guess the race of his patient?

she is white. sorry but black, hispanic, and asian women dont drink beer or eat pretzels.

[potter]

Healthcare? Is he going to go off on a rant about rotatory phones next?

[Ethersync]

Originally Posted by tonyparra

she is white. sorry but black, hispanic, and asian women dont drink beer or eat pretzels.

[Slappin Fish]

Originally Posted by Ethersync

[spacedog]

Originally Posted by DirtyWhiteBoy

Oh... and guess the race of his patient?

With a gold tooth, it's not too difficult to guess correctly.

[directfiesta]

.. and dont send firefighters if her house burns ( she can piss on it ) and dont accept her kids in school ( they don't need an education to wear bling .. ) .. if she is getting rapped , please no cops ... but most of all , do not spend a few billions on her behalf to invade a country that she cannot even pin point on a map ...

[sperbonzo]

My wife has her own Pediatric Occupational Therapy practice and she comes home with stories like this every week. In fact, the patients that have the most taxpayer provided services are the ones that she has the most problems with as far as getting involved with their children's care.... or even bothering to get out of bed to get their children ready to be picked up, to be taken (for free) to the clinic each day.

She can relate hundreds of stories just like this one, and how Medicaid will pay for MANY times more treatments than your average insurer, and yet the patients receiving Medicaid don't even bother to send in a lunch with their kids, (after dropping them off in a Lexus), and expect the clinic to feed them, and even BATH them for free, which comes out the the clinics pockets. She told me one example of a mother, after being told that her child needed a simple pair of shoes to wear during treatments, went out and bought $80 sneakers for her 5 year old. She then cautioned the clinic to "not mess them up". When they asked her why she hadn't just bought some inexpensive shoes so that it wouldn't matter if they got scuffed, she replied "My kids need style". She was also on Medicaid.

I could go on for days with these. She comes home steamed about it every week.



.

[Amputate Your Head]

fat, lazy and docile.

go team America.

[BFT3K]

From yesterday...

Originally Posted by cambaby

What a bunch of morons, YOU are paying for lazy ghetto bitches health care, these poor people in America REFUSE to get a job because its easier for them not to, I mean why should they when YOU ARE PAYING THE BILL. Thanks to your messiah he has fucked you and your children for years, dont even pin this on Bush this was PURELY DEMOCRATS period. Bush was a fiscal fucking idiot, Obama is a fucking fiscal DISASTER.

Originally Posted by BFT3K

I'm not certain who "YOU" is in your rant, but if it is the people who work, and who pay for EVERYONE'S healthcare, then why are you so upset.

Under the new Obama plan, healthcare would be mandatory, like car insurance is for drivers. This means more people will pay into the healthcare system, so the costs are more evened out.

Now before you rant on, about how this benefits the insurance companies, or "the poor still won't pay" etc. - let's look at the big picture.

By making this compromise, the health insurance companies WILL gain new customers. In return, they must take ALL customers, regardless of pre-existing conditions. They also are not allowed to drop you for any reason, and rate heights are supposed to follow a restrictive formula.

Will it work, or will it just be another corrupt way to do things? Probably the latter, but change takes time, and the system will require tweaks as time goes on.

Would it have been better to do nothing at all, like has happened for the past X number of years? Doubtful. Rates were going up with zero regulation whatsoever, so maybe now the rate increases, which are inevitable, will be slowed down a bit... who knows?

One thing is certain however - as our economy sucks, and as more people are unemployed and/or under employed, the pool of those who can afford health insurance now, is dwindling.

Without any change, it will be unaffordable for the MAJORITY of people. This will mean all of you heartless millionaires out there will get to stand in lines, 20 people deep, at the emergency room, because no one will have coverage. Every condition will be put off until it is dire, and the people will still be taken care of, but YOUR bill will skyrocket, and YOUR wait will be long.

Get it?

More people in the pool is better. It is not an ideal fix, but it is more than nothing.

The people who are not currently covered will be required to have coverage. If they can afford it, it will be mandatory. If they cannot, it will still be provided, albeit via government assistance, which will not be great for THEM, but it still allows the system to function for everyone, including those who are well off.

What the fuck are you guys railing against?

Do you ever stop and think who is controlling your thoughts?

If Obama is in bed with the healthcare industry, then why did they spend almost 1/2 BILLION DOLLAR$ fighting him on it - and continue to do so even today?

WAKE THE FUCK UP!

[BlackCrayon]

sounds reasonable but you could say the same about many things.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Ethersync

This is spreading all over Facebook and the web:

now this is a different take

'people are pigs, why should i pay for these pigs? (however, i get paid taking care of them, and the way things are going..

business is Goooood'

get back to being a servant, doc.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by _Richard_

now this is a different take

'people are pigs, why should i pay for these pigs? (however, i get paid taking care of them, and the way things are going..

business is Goooood'

get back to being a servant, doc.

Excellent observation. We are all servants. Bow down.

[96ukssob]

people are always going to find a way to cheat the system one way or another. I had a friend here who he buddy was collecting workers comp for an "injury" for about 3 years (still is now), but is some how also getting state issued "aid" but he works full time under the table driving a lawn mower making $20/hr

i think we need to lower the bar on punishment here and watch how quickly things turn around. someone caught cheating the system? you do jail time and work at $1.15/hr until you repay every penny

[gumdrop]

This is why you are fat:
http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com

[Tom_PM]

I wonder if shoe sales people bitch about the nice shoes they had to slip off someones foot just to sell them another pair using a coupon that were also on sale on tax-free clothes weekend. Probably. Bitching is the human condition.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Sly

Excellent observation. We are all servants. Bow down.

are you?

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by sperbonzo

My wife has her own Pediatric Occupational Therapy practice and she comes home with stories like this every week. In fact, the patients that have the most taxpayer provided services are the ones that she has the most problems with as far as getting involved with their children's care.... or even bothering to get out of bed to get their children ready to be picked up, to be taken (for free) to the clinic each day.

She can relate hundreds of stories just like this one, and how Medicaid will pay for MANY times more treatments than your average insurer, and yet the patients receiving Medicaid don't even bother to send in a lunch with their kids, (after dropping them off in a Lexus), and expect the clinic to feed them, and even BATH them for free, which comes out the the clinics pockets. She told me one example of a mother, after being told that her child needed a simple pair of shoes to wear during treatments, went out and bought $80 sneakers for her 5 year old. She then cautioned the clinic to "not mess them up". When they asked her why she hadn't just bought some inexpensive shoes so that it wouldn't matter if they got scuffed, she replied "My kids need style". She was also on Medicaid.

I could go on for days with these. She comes home steamed about it every week.



.

an over weight woman of color stabbed and killed a guy in parking lot here in Hollywood the other day, he disrespected her. the over weight woman of color backed into another car while parking... the 'man' disrespected her by telling her to watch how she was parking.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by _Richard_

are you?

We are all servants.

Every one of us profits from illegal activity, somebody doing something malicious, somebody taking advantage of others. If we couldn't complain because of that, we sure would be a quiet society.

[seeandsee]

rape the dr!

[Sly]

Originally Posted by bm bradley

an over weight woman of color stabbed and killed a guy in parking lot here in Hollywood the other day, he disrespected her. the over weight woman of color backed into another car while parking... the 'man' disrespected her by telling her to watch how she was parking.

It's true, fat people are very sensitive about their driving skills. They take that shit seriously!

[Ethersync]

Originally Posted by gumdrop

This is why you are fat:
http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com

More like this:

[tony286]

this is the welfare queen bullshit all over again. My mother is retired and volunteers as a child advocate. She is a right winger and she said it opened her eyes how little these people have and how hard they struggle and that welfare queen bit is all bullshit.
Also when credit was cheap they gave credit to anyone. So people had flat screen tv's ,fancy shoes(you dont know if they are knock offs) and then default on it. my wifes sister was working at subway making $6 a hr and they gave the kid a credit card with a 15k line of credit.
its all right wing crap the unemployed are just lazy drinking and doing drugs but then they will talk about christian values. lol

[Sly]

Originally Posted by tony299

this is the welfare queen bullshit all over again. My mother is retired and volunteers as a child advocate. She is a right winger and she said it opened her eyes how little these people have and how hard they struggle and that welfare queen bit is all bullshit.
Also when credit was cheap they gave credit to anyone. So people had flat screen tv's ,fancy shoes(you dont know if they are knock offs) and then default on it. my wifes sister was working at subway making $6 a hr and they gave the kid a credit card with a 15k line of credit.
its all right wing crap the unemployed are just lazy drinking and doing drugs but then they will talk about christian values. lol

All I got from this statement was that you think it's okay to default on a loan because some company somewhere was so stupid that they gave out a credit line to somebody that couldn't afford it.

I have a high credit line, too. Way higher than I can "afford." Haven't defaulted yet. Maybe I'll give that a try next year.

[tony286]

Originally Posted by Sly

All I got from this statement was that you think it's okay to default on a loan because some company somewhere was so stupid that they gave out a credit line to somebody that couldn't afford it.

I have a high credit line, too. Way higher than I can "afford." Haven't defaulted yet. Maybe I'll give that a try next year.

Im saying just because these people may have things doesnt mean they are rolling in cash and collecting welfare. That's the impression the letter tries to give.I never said it was ok to default. But if they didnt give credit away like candy that wouldnt happen. And my sister in law didnt default on that credit card by the way.The banks werent stupid they was greedy.

[GotGauge]

Originally Posted by tony299

this is the welfare queen bullshit all over again. My mother is retired and volunteers as a child advocate. She is a right winger and she said it opened her eyes how little these people have and how hard they struggle and that welfare queen bit is all bullshit.
Also when credit was cheap they gave credit to anyone. So people had flat screen tv's ,fancy shoes(you dont know if they are knock offs) and then default on it. my wifes sister was working at subway making $6 a hr and they gave the kid a credit card with a 15k line of credit.
its all right wing crap the unemployed are just lazy drinking and doing drugs but then they will talk about christian values. lol

Not everyone on welfare is a "queen" but it does happen and a lot.
Heck I see people that need to be on welfare, but refuse.

What does your credit have to do with anything?
Just because it was super easy to get, NO ONE made them fill out the apps, or even
made them USE the credit knowing they could not afford to pay it back.

[GotGauge]

Originally Posted by tony299

Im saying just because these people may have things doesnt mean they are rolling in cash and collecting welfare. That's the impression the letter tries to give.I never said it was ok to default. But if they didnt give credit away like candy that wouldnt happen. And my sister didnt default on that credit card by the way.The banks werent stupid they was greedy.

Ok, I see what your are saying now, but again
it does boil down to the same thing, just because it is Easy to get, doesn't mean you have to take it!

[Sly]

Originally Posted by tony299

Im saying just because these people may have things doesnt mean they are rolling in cash and collecting welfare. That's the impression the letter tries to give.I never said it was ok to default. But if they didnt give credit away like candy that wouldnt happen. And my sister in law didnt default on that credit card by the way.The banks werent stupid they was greedy.

I agree. What's upsetting to me is that we all know people who really genuinely need help because of life situations or illness, disability, etc. You really have to "give up" a lot in order to get help or simply not have much to begin with. So when you know someone like this that has given up everything they have just so they can get a little assistance and then you see people walking around with jewelry or driving a nice vehicle... I think it's only natural to get frustrated and want to scream at someone. Even blame.

[Vendzilla]

Originally Posted by tony299

this is the welfare queen bullshit all over again. My mother is retired and volunteers as a child advocate. She is a right winger and she said it opened her eyes how little these people have and how hard they struggle and that welfare queen bit is all bullshit.
Also when credit was cheap they gave credit to anyone. So people had flat screen tv's ,fancy shoes(you dont know if they are knock offs) and then default on it. my wifes sister was working at subway making $6 a hr and they gave the kid a credit card with a 15k line of credit.
its all right wing crap the unemployed are just lazy drinking and doing drugs but then they will talk about christian values. lol

I bet your mom and mine would get along pretty well.
My mom grew up poor, but didn't know she was poor. She made sure her kids had what they needed before she thought of herself. Now she has everything, no worries except that the money in her savings is not paying out like they did a few years ago because of lower interest rates. Her biggest thrill is finding a bargain at a garage sale. Most of her furniture has been bought used and refinished, it's almost all antiques that are pretty valuable. There's one piece I really want.
She can't understand how things have changed, how people can get into such deep debt and then whine about the payments. She always paid for things as she went. in 95 she bought a new honda, she paid cash. She does love that the newer TV's are easier to move, LOL

[_Richard_]

i think the answer here is ethnic concentration camps

they're lazy and fat and don't work anyway, lets get them in work camps where we can reintroduce them into society.

[PornMD]

Originally Posted by Ethersync

Guy looks like Seth Macfarlane's unsuccessful older brother.

[tony286]

Originally Posted by GotGauge

Ok, I see what your are saying now, but again
it does boil down to the same thing, just because it is Easy to get, doesn't mean you have to take it!

but unfortunately that's not human nature.

[OneHungLo]

Whats pretty fucked up to me is that every time i walk into any retail store and make a purchase, they are constantly shoving a credit card offer down my throat. And not only that, they entice you by giving you 10-20% off the purchase if you open up a credit with them.

[JP-pornshooter]

i think there are two very different things going on here.

true the welfare children of america is a heavy heavy burden, not only are they costly in healthcare but also the prison system is bogged down, not to mention the lack of taxes collected from these non-producing citizens are causing major cash drought in city and state budgets.

however the other side of the story is that the US healthcare industry has taken everyone on a long long ride.
stories of a single motrin dosage costing over $10 on a hospital compared to the consumer "street" cost of a few cents.
the motrin scenario is just the example, however it is duplicated in many facets of the healthcare industry.
matter a fact the healthcare industry in US is the largest industry, larger than real estate, oil-gas, construction etc etc.
the problem is a group of very wealthy is getting very wealthy by keeping this system and they use this buying power in washington dc to lobby and buy politicians in order to keep status quo and rake in cash..

btw, these people love the wealfare patients, cause the government pays better than privates...

[sperbonzo]

Originally Posted by bm bradley

an over weight woman of color stabbed and killed a guy in parking lot here in Hollywood the other day, he disrespected her. the over weight woman of color backed into another car while parking... the 'man' disrespected her by telling her to watch how she was parking.

If you are trying to say that her experience is anecdotal, of course that's true, but she has been in the healthcare industry for 15 years, and has a large number of contacts in clinics throughout the area. When they get together, they all relate the same experiences. I'm not sure how many people, have to spend how many years, seeing how many instances, in order to establish a trend in your mind, but maybe at the next show you can ask her yourself.


In any case, I have friends that have complained to me that they don't have health insurance, and I notice that their priorities are different than mine. I spend the money to get health insurance that they spend on beer, cable TV, etc.... No judgements from me. If they would rather set their priorities to spend their money that way, then so be it.
Don't complain however, that one does not have insurance.

Conversely we have friends with very low incomes that forgo cable TV and beer in order to get health insurance for their family, and those are THEIR priorities. I don't judge adults for whatever choices they make as to how to spend their own money, but don't make it my responsibility to pay for those choices.



.

[Bill8]

you have to admit that letter encapsulates a tea party policy platform plank in a nutshell.

it's perfect rhetoric. old, but perfect.

snopes says it's correctly attributed.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp

[IllTestYourGirls]

Originally Posted by DirtyWhiteBoy

Oh... and guess the race of his patient?

Ive seen a lot of white people like that

[epitome]

Originally Posted by sperbonzo

My wife has her own Pediatric Occupational Therapy practice and she comes home with stories like this every week. In fact, the patients that have the most taxpayer provided services are the ones that she has the most problems with as far as getting involved with their children's care.... or even bothering to get out of bed to get their children ready to be picked up, to be taken (for free) to the clinic each day.

She can relate hundreds of stories just like this one, and how Medicaid will pay for MANY times more treatments than your average insurer, and yet the patients receiving Medicaid don't even bother to send in a lunch with their kids, (after dropping them off in a Lexus), and expect the clinic to feed them, and even BATH them for free, which comes out the the clinics pockets. She told me one example of a mother, after being told that her child needed a simple pair of shoes to wear during treatments, went out and bought $80 sneakers for her 5 year old. She then cautioned the clinic to "not mess them up". When they asked her why she hadn't just bought some inexpensive shoes so that it wouldn't matter if they got scuffed, she replied "My kids need style". She was also on Medicaid.

I could go on for days with these. She comes home steamed about it every week.



.

Is your wife as against social benefits as you? If so, she can refuse to accept Medicaid just like most doctors do (and still do just fine). If she accepts it she is sucking off the government tit just as much as her patients.

[Minte]

Originally Posted by directfiesta

.. and dont send firefighters if her house burns ( she can piss on it ) and dont accept her kids in school ( they don't need an education to wear bling .. ) .. if she is getting rapped , please no cops ... but most of all , do not spend a few billions on her behalf to invade a country that she cannot even pin point on a map ...

Ok,no problem