# Health Care Freeloaders! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979 "2017-12-21T04:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/1 "2017-12-21T04:20:48Z")
[Plainspoken truth](https://www.texasobserver.org/chip-doctor-texas-kids/) from a Texas physician in the trenches. Hopefully, more will speak up about this. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/2 "2017-12-21T04:22:33Z")
Are the kids white? That is a major factor in whether I think the doctor is right or wrong. In all seriousness, I weep for America. Trillions for tax cuts for the rich, but a fraction of that for healthcare for kids is too expensive. This country is so fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/3 "2017-12-21T04:49:12Z")
Color shouldn’t matter. Imo. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/4 "2017-12-21T04:57:43Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Are the kids white?. They are obviously of Irish descent. (I cannot like to “A Modest Proposal” tonight) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/5 "2017-12-21T05:35:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Color shouldn’t matter. Imo. [Agree to disagree](https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/6 "2017-12-21T05:51:40Z")
On another note I read this article. > **[States’ Christmas Letter to Kids: No Health Care for You](https://www.thedailybeast.com/states-christmas-letter-to-kids-no-health-care-for-you)** > > Sh\*t has begun hitting the fan with CHIP, the federal program giving health care to 9 million people that has run out of money. > [@](#): > > Kristy Kirkpatrick Johnson is a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom in Brewton, Alabama, with two small kids and an impending medical crisis. > > Her son, Thomas, needs EpiPens for his nut allergies and they aren’t cheap. Without insurance, the pens cost $1,500. Her husband Parker, the family’s sole breadwinner, is the pastor of the local First Presbyterian Church. The family was spending roughly $800 a month for insurance before her daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born. > > They soon got a break though. The Johnsons enrolled both their children in All Kids, a program that covers some 84,000 children in Alabama through the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And, like that, Thomas’ EpiPens were free, minus the $13 copay they have to put down every time they go to the doctor. > > “It’s just been a huge blessing to our family,” Johnson told The Daily Beast in the middle of preparing for a large dinner gathering at their home on Tuesday night. “We just feel that the Lord has really provided for us through All Kids.” So I decided to do some research into the Parker Johnson family. He is a pastor in Alabama, and he is white. Which means statistically, he is about 80% likely to be republican (if not higher). White christians in Alabama usually aren’t democrats. Which gets me. If he and his wife voted for republican senators, congressmen and a republican president (which again, they are religious white people in Alabama, so if they did vote it is likely they did), what did they expect? Now the democrats have to bail out their kids from their parents bad decision making? You sacrificed your children’s ability to get necessary medical care at the alter of white nationalism. Now your kid can’t get epi pens to avoid dying from anaphylactic shock. And for fucks sake, the lord didn’t provide your kids with epi pens. The SCHIP program did. Know who played a major role in getting SCHIP passed? [Hillary Clinton](http://www.politifact.com/colorado/statements/2016/feb/17/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-wrong-sanders-claim/). I don’t mean to politicize this, its just infuriating. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/7 "2017-12-21T05:59:57Z")
I see what you’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/8 "2017-12-21T06:35:03Z")
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. But won’t it be a blessing to know that when the Lord calls him home via a fatal allergic reaction, he’ll be in a better place? Also, the upside is that perhaps we can reverse overpopulation. There’s just not enough resources to go around. It’s just not right to steal from the rich to feed (or in this case, provide medical care to) the poor. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/9 "2017-12-21T07:00:49Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. But won’t it be a blessing to know that when the Lord calls him home via a fatal allergic reaction, he’ll be in a better place? > > Also, the upside is that perhaps we can reverse overpopulation. There’s just not enough resources to go around. It’s just not right to steal from the rich to feed (or in this case, provide medical care to) the poor. That’s why j666’s solution in post #4 so brilliant - win-win! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/10 "2017-12-21T13:10:57Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > On another note I read this article. > > [States’ Christmas Letter to Kids: No Health Care for You](https://www.thedailybeast.com/states-christmas-letter-to-kids-no-health-care-for-you) For every article like this, it should be mandatory to put who the person voted for. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/11 "2017-12-21T15:25:33Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > [Plainspoken truth](https://www.texasobserver.org/chip-doctor-texas-kids/) from a Texas physician in the trenches. Hopefully, more will speak up about this. I agree with that doctor 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/12 "2017-12-21T15:35:26Z")
I went to a doctor in the recent past who had the same point of view. I don’t get it, although I understand freeloaders. I’ve worked my share of call center customer service jobs, and you get a lot of customers who feel entitled to something free just because their delivery was 10 minutes later than they expected. One customer I talked to actually wanted a kickback (his words) for no reason whatsoever. Just because he asked for what amounted to a discount, he felt he should get it, and got angry when he was denied. Guess what, Texas Doctor? People are ungrateful, spiteful, horrible, irrational creatures. But then, I think of things like these: [https://darkrome.com/\_product\_images/0041\_0001\_david-close.jpg](https://darkrome.com/_product_images/0041_0001_david-close.jpg) [Willendorf - Stereotype of a supposed Prehistoric Venus](http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/sculpture/willendorf.php) and my sense of awe at what people can create is re-established. But the Texas doctor can go screw himself. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/13 "2017-12-21T15:49:47Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > Guess what, Texas Doctor? People are ungrateful, spiteful, horrible, irrational creatures. > > But then, I think of things like these: [https://darkrome.com/\_product\_images/0041\_0001\_david-close.jpg](https://darkrome.com/_product_images/0041_0001_david-close.jpg) [Willendorf - Stereotype of a supposed Prehistoric Venus](http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/sculpture/willendorf.php) and my sense of awe at what people can create is re-established. > > But the Texas doctor can go screw himself. Did you read the entire column? I think you missed something. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/14 "2017-12-21T15:57:06Z")
I’m feeling like there’s some whooshing going on here… But I’m operating on a sleep deficit, so maybe I’m being whooshed?? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/15 "2017-12-21T16:03:31Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > [Plainspoken truth](https://www.texasobserver.org/chip-doctor-texas-kids/) from a Texas physician in the trenches. Hopefully, more will speak up about this. So what did he have to say on the subject, and what parts did you agree with? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/16 "2017-12-21T16:15:50Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Did you read the entire column? I think you missed something. As a general observation, it seems that people often read just enough to confirm their own bias, then stop. Sometimes, a headline is enough. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/17 "2017-12-21T18:45:35Z")
I’m convinced that Republican politicians would throw their own children to the wolves if the name “Clinton” had even the remotest connection with their well-being. Not funding CHIP is cruel and heartless. I’m reminded of the Ghost of Christmas Present when showing Ignorance and Want to Scrooge: > [@](#): > > “Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom unless the writing be erased.” ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/18 "2017-12-21T19:17:14Z")
Maybe I’m wrong, but I detected a strong current of sarcasm in that column. The author was talking about little kids in diapers. Of course they’re gonna scream and cry and puke on the doctor. They’re little kids. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/19 "2017-12-21T20:08:59Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979/20 "2017-12-21T20:21:25Z")
> [@Bumbazine](#): > > Maybe I’m wrong, but I detected a strong current of sarcasm in that column. The author was talking about little kids in diapers. Of course they’re gonna scream and cry and puke on the doctor. They’re little kids. They also don’t have jobs, which is why they are good-for-nothing freeloaders! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-freeloaders/804979.md?page=2)