# Man robs bank for $1 just so he can get health care in jail ! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412 "2011-06-22T12:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/41 "2011-06-22T21:38:57Z")
Would universal health care pay for the illegal alcoholic aliens from Xemulon 4 home birth with a midwife? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/42 "2011-06-22T22:07:14Z")
Health care is not primarily about avoiding death, it’s about improving quality of life. The average person dies once, but gets sick several dozens of times. Living in fear of developing a medical condition more serious than a seasonal cold because your employer doesn’t offer health insurance and if you need medical care you have to go to the emergency room and pay out the ass and probably file bankruptcy like I had to do after my kidney stone is a shitty fucking way to go about your life. RUN-ON SENTENCES ARE FUN! ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/43 "2011-06-22T22:12:20Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > The average person dies once The _average_ person? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/44 "2011-06-22T22:20:53Z")
Great, now lekatt’s going to wander in. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/45 "2011-06-22T22:48:39Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > [Beautiful.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/james-verone-robs-bank_n_880660.html) > > I can’t get angry at this guy for what he did, but I’m putting this in the pit because I’m angry at the health care system that made him desperate enough to do this. This is why we need Universal Healthcare. With [45,000 people dying](http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/harvard-medical-study-links-lack-of-insurance-to-45000-us-deaths-a-year/) every year in the United States who would have otherwise lived if they had health insurance, I’m honestly shocked that this doesn’t happen more often. Kudos, James Verone. I’d probably do the same thing in your shoes. We need universal healthcare because some guy opted not to save anything for emergencies when he was working and now claims that he is unable to work? According to [this article](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/james-verone-medical-motive-bank-robbery/story?id=13895584), poor Mr. Verone has had trouble holding down his low-skilled employment; makes vague, non-specific allegations of back pain and foot pain; and, despite alleging a lack of money for treatment, moved out of his house so that he could live in a Hampton Inn and took cabs to go “rob” banks while awaiting his arrest. This evidence tends to show someone who is uninterested in continuing to work (he was very likely dismissed from his jobs as truck driver and convenience store clerk due to unacceptable performance and/or absenteeism). His allegations of employment-precluding pain are not credible. His decision to leave his house and bide his time in a much more expensive hotel shows that he was waiting for the state to come in and furnish him with free room, board, and (narcotic) pain medication instead of working for a living. He “robbed” this bank because he was denied disability benefits and ran out of food stamps (which are only given for three months to able-bodied adults without dependents) and figured he could force the government’s hand by engaging in sham criminal behavior. This has nothing to do with health care costs being out of anybody’s reach, and the inability to distinguish those who are needy due to circumstances beyond their control versus those who are needy due to a lack of motivation to change their circumstances is _exactly_ what conservatives worry about with respect to social welfare programs. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/46 "2011-06-22T22:50:41Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > If the guy went to prison to get a free pony,should we give everyone a free pony? If they’re giving out free ponies in prison, fuck yes I want a pony. ---
**Author:** ![qbadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/fbc32d/32.png) [@qbadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qbadger)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/47 "2011-06-22T23:19:54Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > > [@rachelellogram](#): > > > > The average person dies once > > The _average_ person? :dubious: Well there are supposedly [these](http://www.usefultrivia.com/bible_trivia/bible_trivia_009b.html) two chaps… > [@Bosstone](#): > > If they’re giving out free ponies in prison, fuck yes I want a pony. I’m not sure ‘pony’ means what you think it means in prison slang. The kind of ride you get with it might be slightly different from what you are expecting. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/48 "2011-06-23T00:03:58Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > . . . This evidence tends to show someone who is uninterested in continuing to work (he was very likely dismissed from his jobs as truck driver and convenience store clerk due to unacceptable performance and/or absenteeism) . . . The article I read stated that he’d worked as a truck driver for a soda company (Coca-Cola? Dr. Pepper?) for seventeen years before he was laid off. That doesn’t sound like someone with an absentee problem or unacceptable performance. It also stated that the heavy lifting required in his second job was the cause of his back pain, that the subsequent back pain caused him to be unable to work the part-time job he got after that, and that he has a “protrusion” from his chest. I do wonder about the hotel and the cab. Did he decide to splurge before going to prison with the last cash he had on hand? He has a brother and a sister, and while he didn’t want to burden them with his medical expenses, what about selling the house, moving in with one of them, and paying the medical bills from what he got? Unless, of course, like countless other Americans, he made a very poor choice about his mortgage and is now underwater on the value of the house. I don’t know. The whole story seems tailor-made to explode in the media, then to be kicked around like a soccer ball by commentators until I, for one, would rob a bank if they’d JUST SHUT UP. I would rather we talk about the facts of the matter and debate the issue like grown ups, instead of lobbing poster children at each other like they were Plague infested dead cattle catapulted over the wall of a besieged enemy. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/49 "2011-06-23T00:13:35Z")
This guy is a piece of shit. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/50 "2011-06-23T00:25:01Z")
People can be “underwater” on the value of their house without having made “a very poor choice.” Unless the poor choice was buying a house. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/51 "2011-06-23T00:59:22Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > … instead of lobbing poster children at each other like they were Plague infested dead cattle catapulted over the wall of a besieged enemy. Is that how poster children are lobbed at someone? I’ve been doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/52 "2011-06-23T01:10:43Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > If they’re giving out free ponies in prison, fuck yes I want a pony. You fuck ponies in prison? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/53 "2011-06-23T01:12:41Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > You fuck ponies in prison? Well it’s a lot harder if they’re free to run around. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/54 "2011-06-23T01:44:46Z")
I believe in accessible health care, but these kinds of cases are often about mental health issues. The pain issues and chest ‘protuberance’ are red flags in my view. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/55 "2011-06-23T02:40:01Z")
Would anyone like to compare and contrast Universal Health Care and food stamps for those couple of idiots on the first page? Thanking you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/56 "2011-06-23T02:46:19Z")
I think we do need universal mental health care, & mental health care in the present régime is sometimes perverted into a “money game” as a friend of mine once put it. > [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > This has nothing to do with health care costs being out of anybody’s reach, and the inability to distinguish those who are needy due to circumstances beyond their control versus those who are needy due to a lack of motivation to change their circumstances is _exactly_ what conservatives worry about with respect to social welfare programs. The insistence on confirming that the needy are “deserving” is one thing that bothers me about our current system. Since when does deserving have anything to do with economic efficiency? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/57 "2011-06-23T02:58:58Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Would anyone like to compare and contrast Universal Health Care and food stamps for those couple of idiots on the first page? Thanking you in advance. So, you’re too stupid to even try to argue your own case? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/58 "2011-06-23T03:02:02Z")
> [@Otara](#): > > I believe in accessible health care, but these kinds of cases are often about mental health issues. > > The pain issues and chest ‘protuberance’ are red flags in my view. > > Otara Even there we have a problem, access to care for mental issues is even harder to get in the USA. > **[Health care reform likely to benefit patients with mental illness](https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_ecdf32c2-fca1-5b35-ba00-dbd06bedb145.html)** > > Those who suffer from mental illness will be well-served by the new health care reforms, according to Angela Kimball, director of state policy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. > [@](#): > > People with mental illness are dying an average of 25 years earlier than the rest of the population, largely of treatable medical conditions. Mental health care of chronic, severe conditions is substantially relegated to the public sector. In the private sector, mental health care is still often optional. And, when it is covered, it is often limited to prescription drugs, psychiatric hospitalization and office-based therapy, Kimball said. > > “State-of-the-art care may be available for a heart condition, or even Parkinson’s or epilepsy, but try to find it for serious mental illness in the private sector and you’ll be disappointed,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/59 "2011-06-23T03:03:22Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > The insistence on confirming that the needy are “deserving” is one thing that bothers me about our current system. Since when does deserving have anything to do with economic efficiency? To an extent, I agree with you and would like to see a guaranteed minimum income that would furnish everybody with the bare minimum of housing, food, and medical care. I’m not terribly worried that productivity would take a hit because such basic provisions really are just a hair over penury and most people want to live in a manner a little more opulent than that, which desire provides the motivation to work. But I don’t think Mr. Verone even has significant health problems. (In light of the benefits programs he was on, I presume he applied for SSI/SSDI and was denied.) And it sounds like he had some money at the end: he had a hotel room, he took a cab, he gave away his furniture. Also note, when asked what he would do if he were just released, he said he would “rob” another bank. At no point has he expressed an interest in vocational rehab or job-seeking assistance. So what we have here is someone who just wants to take it easy and have the state tend to him as a prisoner. What should we do in such a case? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412/60 "2011-06-23T03:09:46Z")
Everyone knows the first step to a life of leisure and living off the government tit is to drive a truck for 17 years until one is laid off, then stand behind a cash register. Wish I’d thought of it first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-robs-bank-for-1-just-so-he-can-get-health-care-in-jail/586412.md?page=4)