Entitlement Reform vs. Health Care Reform

When I received a copy of this letter at first I thought it might be bogus because of the reference to "tennis shoes". No one calls them that anymore right? This physician does, and after a quick Google search I found the letter to be very credible (although one e-mail version incorrectly referred to this as a letter to the President):

Dr. Roger Starner Jones 
Letter to the Editor
Clarion Ledger, Jackson MS
August 29, 2009
_______________________
Dear Sirs:

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 costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.

And our Congress 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."  Life is not really that hard. Most of us will reap what we sow. 
_______________________
Sources:
http://spotlight.vitals.com/2009/10/dr-roger-starner-jones-muses-crisis-culture
http://www.meetup.com/WeSurroundThemGathering/messages/boards/thread/7706531
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1374274/dr-starner-jones-md-racist-of-the-week (this one paints the Dr. as a racist!)

Whether you agree with the racist accusations is your decision, but in my opinion the Dr. is RIGHT ON with his "Crisis of Culture" statements. Our tax dollars paid for the grille, the tattoos, the cell phone, the ring tone, the sneakers, the smokes and the beer. Why? We cultivated, and then enabled this entitlement mentality for too long!

Able bodied welfare recipients (which are the vast majority) should work as they did since the inception of Welfare, not in the 1930's, 40's, 50's or later, but in the Old Testament book of Ruth! The concept of welfare is NOT a product of the 20th century. Wealthy farmers and business people felt compassion - and to a degree an obligation - to help those less fortunate, but handouts were never the solution. Work, in exchange for that assistance was the norm. The "gleaners" were permitted to follow the "reapers" through the fields to gather what may have been missed.

The concept of "Workfare" is completely foreign to many generations of recipients, and likewise to the politicians who exchange these handouts for votes. In my opinion health care reform is an important issue, but two issues far more pressing are Tort (lawsuit) reform and Welfare reform. Until we reform a handout system that requires nothing but breathing for a paycheck; and a system where people can sue for trivial issues and walk away with multi-million dollar settlements not much else will matter. But don't hold your breath on either. As I said it's those handouts that insure votes, and 43% of today's Congress and four of the past eight presidents are/were lawyers so don't expect any meaningful change on regulating the very industry that provides their paychecks.

Please, write your elected officials WEEKLY, not weakly to let them know your opinions! Don't ever forget that your elected officials work for you!