culture crisis, not health crisis? your thoughts?

[RD]

Pictured is a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. His short...  two-paragraph letter to the Mississipi Clarion Ledger accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis"..

It's worth a quick read:


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 President expects 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
If you agree...pass it on.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
yes its true:  http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp

http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Roger_S_Jones.html

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now other than his anti-administration rhetoric, he does have a point here?  is this truly a cultural change in dependency or is it a health care crisis / issue?

[dkn1997]

 

[Dans 68]

...is this truly a cultural change in dependency or is it a health care crisis / issue?

I would go with a cultural change in dependency, i.e., eroding of the "personal responsibility" ethos.

Dan

[NHCharger]

That basically nails it. The problem is our current government WANTS people to be dependent on the government for everything. It's much easier to control the masses that way.

[khodne]

That basically nails it. The problem is our current government WANTS people to be dependent on the government for everything. It's much easier to control the masses that way.

[squeakfinder]

That basically nails it. The problem is our current government WANTS people to be dependent on the government for everything. It's much easier to control the masses that way.

Yes, it's about power. And making people dependent on the government, so people vote for the candidate they think will give them there handout. The person in the E.R. should be ashamed of what there doing. The problem is, there is no shame anymore.

[bakerhillpins]

I'm not going to deny that there is a culture problem, because I believe there is as well. However, you are going to find a poster child for both sides of this problem. Its just too easy to dig up an exception to the rule that gets everyone up in arms.

I have a good friend that has always worked for an employer and at the same time started/run his own business. He always paid into the system and has good health habits as does his wife. His wife has come down with a chronic and debilitating problem and the insurance companies refuse to pay for any treatment. They are failing him just as bad as the above example is taking advantage of the system. Who is more correct? More deserving?

Its just plain old broken. 

[learical1]

For 30+ years, I worked parts in Ford dealerships.  The first 12 years, when I was single, the dealership paid for my health insurance.  When I got married, I added my wife to the insurance.  Cost was minimal.  Then we had a child, and the price went up again. I moved and switched dealerships, and the price increased again!   It soon got to the point that we had to make a decision:  Drop health insurance and pray nothing major happens, or move to a scroungy neighborhood with scroungy schools to pay the $850 a month insurance bill.  We went 15 years without insurance, I paid for a midwife to home deliver all of my kids, and only 4 visits to the emergency room for the family.  I was lucky, in 15 years I spent about $10,000, or just over 1 year's insurance payments, in medical fees.  I currently work for a company that pays for my entire family's health insurance for $40 a month (it would be free if I could drop about 75 lbs).  I'm scared that, now that I finally have real health insurance again, the new health plan is gonna ruin it for me.   I saw the need for some kind of health reform, but what we got...?

[Brock Lee]

It would also be nice to see what the bill for that medical visit was. You can bet your ass no matter how trivial her issue was it was not under 4 figures.

I don't think anyone is fighting for the real solution to all this. There needs to be reform in the insurance industry AND the medical industry.

[Mike DC]

It would also be nice to see what the bill for that medical visit was. You can bet your ass no matter how trivial her issue was it was not under 4 figures.

I don't think anyone is fighting for the real solution to all this. There needs to be reform in the insurance industry AND the medical industry.

Bingo. 

And while we're at it, let's stop pretending that making a diet entirely out of corn syrup is not a problem too.  The govt is itching to start taxing us for eating junkfood while it continues to subsidize the creation of the stuff. 

[RD]

It would also be nice to see what the bill for that medical visit was. You can bet your ass no matter how trivial her issue was it was not under 4 figures.

I don't think anyone is fighting for the real solution to all this. There needs to be reform in the insurance industry AND the medical industry.

Bingo. 

And while we're at it, let's stop pretending that making a diet entirely out of corn syrup is not a problem too.  The govt is itching to start taxing us for eating junkfood while it continues to subsidize the creation of the stuff. 

SO TRUE!!!