Friday, December 05, 2008

Hopping Mad

I am hopping mad. I've been hopping mad for days. Why? Because nothing in this country makes sense anymore. An example (and the reason why I started hopping):

The hurricane in September shut down the state hospital down on Galveston Island. Because of this, the state and federal inmates are having to get health care at other locations.

There are many stories floating around. One of them is that there is an inmate in Louisiana who was diagnosed with cancer at the hospital 100 yards from where I work. He was then transferred to MD Anderson in Houston for treatment. MD Anderson is known to be one of the premiere cancer centers in the United States.

The thing about MD Anderson? They don't accept anyone who doesn't have insurance (including a friend of Lab Lady who was refused treatment and passed away shortly thereafter) but they have accepted this inmate who is a child molester, in prison for life, and who has to be transferred from Louisiana (a four hour drive) in an ambulance weekly for even more treatment (approximately $3,500/trip).

Who pays for it? You do. Your tax dollars are going toward treating a man who has never been a productive member of society to live longer in prison, for which you are paying nearly $2,000/day to support.

I'm not saying that they should let him suffer or anything. He should receive some type of treatment. But what I am saying is that if the government has intervened on his behalf, shouldn't they also intervene on behalf of those who, say, ARE NOT IN A FEDERAL PENITENTIARY?

Why do inmates get better health care than regular people? It just doesn't make sense to me.

3 comments:

BexxT said...

And people like us (aka me and my husband) had to jump through freaking crazy hoops to get a high deductible HSA insurance policy for just over $500/month...

And I won't get into the ridiculous percentage we have to pay in taxes because we are small business owners.

But hey- at least my tax money to people in need...

Oh wait. nevermind.

Holli said...

Do NOT get me started on healthcare in America. I often have a very unpopular opinion but who cares? When Guantanomo Bay terrorists get free, high-quality healthcare and I get nada, I'm pissed.

Erin said...

We happen to be LUCKY enough to have medical insurance. There are only two problems with it - we pay out the wazoo just to have it to begin with. We only use it about once a year and then we have a $500deductible and a $50 copay. That means that we end up paying for the entire visit anyway. We don't dare get rid of it just in case one or the other of us gets in an accident. Maybe I should commit a crime...it's looking like a better and better insurance option.