Friday, September 17, 2010

Stop Coddling People

We live in one of the most glorious times in human existence. At no other time in our time on this planet have we had such plentiful and easy access to all of life's necessities.

No, I'm not talking about the internet, or Walmart or anything of that nature. I'm talking about the new dominate form of humanity... hand holding.

All we do is coddle people in this country. Each day fewer and fewer people take responsibility for their own actions and expect others to pick up the slack for them. And, for the most part, we keep on smiling and going about our day.

How is it someone who is on state insurance, and by definition has insufficient personal funds to provide basic health services, can afford some of the things they own? Regularly you see Medicaid patients roll up in their fancy cars with shiny rims while chatting on their iPhone which is full of various paid add-ons.

"Rather spend your money on making yourself looking ghetto fabulous rather than paying your own bills? Well hell, we'll pay for it then!"

I do not believe that if you are poor that you should be forced to live in squalor. I do believe, however, that you should not be able to live a more extravagant life than I.

When calculating eligibility for welfare, why do they not take a better look at the recipients assets? If they drive up to the SSA office to pick up their check in an Escalade riding on 24 inch rims, you would think that perhaps they don't need those benefits, no?

And yet we hold their hands. Some states take it a step further and tell their medicaid recipients that pharmacies have no right to refuse their prescription if they do not have the co-pay.

Great. Way to give them even more power. It's bad enough I'm paying for their own ineptitude, but now you're giving them a reason to refuse payment so they can buy another intricate tramp stamp.

Awesome.

I won't even get into the economic aspects, considering that for many medicaid programs most of the monies received over cost come from that small copay.

The system has failed spectacularly. Social workers, and I've run into my fair share who could use a 2x4 upside the head, are some of the least paid government workers on the basis of the shit they put up with. I do not envy them in one bit.

Perhaps it would be better if instead of giving these people free will over their spending that they have some sort of proxy to determine for them if they can spend their money on said item. They should not be able to drop $200+ on a phone when they 'cannot afford' the $1 copay on their child's antibiotic.

What right do they have to be able to manage their own finances? Isn't that what partially got them in this position to begin with?

For the love of God, stop coddling people. Make them take responsibility for their actions. It's not that freakin' hard.

6 comments:

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Heresy!

was1 said...

Am I reading the right blog? Holy Shit, man, you're sounding like a [gasp] conservative. Personal responsibility? Never! Pay my own way? How dare you even suggest such a thing. I want Brother Barry to give me free money and take me to Disney World. I want free medical, free food, a free place to live and free cable TV. Why can't I have 6 kids in 5 years to 4 different men? Its none of your business. Now give me a bigger check.

What will this world come to now that the libtards are starting to wake up and smell the hounyah.

The Redheaded Pharmacist said...

And what is especially frustrating for me personally is the fact that not only do many states go bankrupt at the same time they pay out these benefits but that people become jaded and resentful towards programs like Medicaid that are truly needed because they see the waste and abuse and equate the whole system to just those freeloaders. We tend to focus on all the money wasted on all of the people "milking" the system and lose sight of the fact that there are many people that have fallen on hard times that have real needs. And your notion of personal responsibility seems like a relic of a time long ago when we weren't on the path we currently are going as a country. But it's a nice thought to think that people might actually stand up and take responsibility for their own actions and choices. Delusional, but a nice thought none the less!

Matito said...

I see this every day at the grocery store where I work. It's gotten to the point where I seriously have been tempted to say, "Your total is $26.43. Will that be cash, credit, or tax money?" People use food stamps to buy Doritos, Twinkies and Fruit Roll Ups (which are usually already opened and half-eaten by the time they get to the register), use WIC checks to pay for their baby food, milk, cheese and produce, and then use what little money they have leftover after they buy their expensive phones/clothes/purses to buy "necessities" (beer, cigarettes and lotto tickets).

Anonymous said...

And how many of these people are illegals?

Anonymous said...

What was that phrase........... Oh, yeah. Fu**in' A right!