Shame Of America: Desperate Man Robs Store For One Dollar In Order To Go To Jail To Get Health Coverage

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/20/249307/georgia-man-robs-for-health/


Yet when he was laid off from Coca Cola three years ago, Verone was desperate to find work. He eventually found work as a convenience clerk, yet he began to notice a protrusion in his chest. He developed arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome, and soon the pain became too much for him to bear. He filed for disability, but he was denied any sort of coverage by the federal government.

But we don't need health care reform in this country.....

Verone needed more than a night or a week in jail. He needed 3 hots and a cot plus medical coverage. Social workers now mention the jail option for those without any place to go.

Jail becomes an option when unemployment benefits run out and you are out of food, shelter, and medical care. Social services are being cut back and there are often no shelter beds available and the charities don't have food or resources to give the needy. Budget cutbacks are forcing poor families into greater poverty and their children into destitution. The unemployed are just bumps in Obama's road to recovery.

The best way to get arrested in order to get food and shelter at the local jail for awhile is to call the cops and tell them where you plan to sleep in a park and wait there for them or to notify the authorities where you intend to urinate in public, but it is best to go pissfully.

This is all so sad. We now have 9.1% unemployment in AZ and since our Governor and the legislators failed to act by extending benefits for the 15,000 unemployed I fear there will be more stories like the one above. A woman called into a radio station to say she won't be able to afford to pay for air-conditioning so she will go without. Our temperatures will be 108 - 111 this week.

My God, look what our country is coming too-where good people commit petty crimes to have shelter and medical care. I guess it beats dying if the sentence isn't too long.

I know, this is so sad. I predict more people will resort to crime in my state now that EB has been denied for 15,000 people.

USA Citizen wrote:Verone needed more than a night or a week in jail. He needed 3 hots and a cot plus medical coverage. Social workers now mention the jail option for those without any place to go.

Jail becomes an option when unemployment benefits run out and you are out of food, shelter, and medical care. Social services are being cut back and there are often no shelter beds available and the charities don't have food or resources to give the needy. Budget cutbacks are forcing poor families into greater poverty and their children into destitution. The unemployed are just bumps in Obama's road to recovery.

The best way to get arrested in order to get food and shelter at the local jail for awhile is to call the cops and tell them where you plan to sleep in a park and wait there for them or to notify the authorities where you intend to urinate in public, but it is best to go pissfully.

I will remember that for when the time comes. Seriously, with his health problems, sleeping on a slab of concrete with a thin plastic mattress placed on top is not a good idea.

Bumps in the road...Is that under the tires? Does it mean that we are nothing but road kill? Or maybe it means we're about to BECOME roadkill. Do we then get used as pothole filler? Sorry, I haven't slept.

americatheneedy wrote:My God, look what our country is coming too-where good people commit petty crimes to have shelter and medical care. I guess it beats dying if the sentence isn't too long.

Whatever the sentence, my understanding is that when your time is up, they hand you whatever they took from you when you were arrested, and then send you out the door. If you had nothing, nobody and nowhere before you were arrested, that is what welcomes you at your release. I think some might give you bus fare. You are no longer their problem, they no longer care. Can you see a problem with this?

If 1 in 5 unemployed people did that, we would only have 4 people competing for each job. YEAH! Things seem to be finally working out.

3 hots & a cot + healh care ? sounds good to me!!!

What else is a person to do? We will help immigrants before helping our own!

It seems to me we have lost our focus on what the problems really are and the fact that it really is up to us to scream. Yes, we have screamed, yes we are involved, but only to an extent. We have no concrete news right now on benefits or extensions or jobs, so many of us have chosen to take the low road and join in the "Blame game".

I am a 4th Generation Immigrant. Many of my relatives lived together, worked coal mines and clothing factories and the fields in NJ and PA. They lived in 2 room apts and shared everything. They had no choice. This is still happening today and will continue to happen probably forever. Immigrants are not the cause of the wall street collapse, housing bubble failures, mortgage fraud or unemployment. We know what caused it. Plain and simple GREED. And, they got away with it, they were bailed out with no strings attached. Yes, they had to be, but strings should have been attached. Let's place the blame where it needs to be and focus on what we need to do to get help for ourselves. When the Kennedy's rose to become one of the most powerful families in this country, they rolled up their sleeves, they reached out to others, they fought like hell to be noticed and it took years. When they started getting respect and notice they built on it and they used that voice to get what they wanted, not only for themselves but for others as well. Blaming is getting us nowhere. We have to continue to fight through emails, calls, interviews and tweets. If they think they can get us to turn on each other, we have lost before we've begun.
All our anger and frustration needs to be placed where it belongs and we all need to do it. Our biggest problem to date is our lack of knowledge of the total number of unemployed and the 99ers. (Real numbers, not the garbage we hear every week that is seasonally adjusted, non farm, blah,blah,blah.) We are many strong and that needs to be our focus, continuing to reach out and continuing to fight for jobs and benefits until we get the jobs.

I hear many saying immigrants are taking our jobs, well I need to ask you all something. Living in PA and now in NJ we have a large immigrant population, mainly in the inner cities. In NJ you see the buses picking up all the "pickers" daily and taking them to the orchards and fields. At night they return them to the bunk house which is a former chicken coop, converted to a bunk house. That's how they live, some farms even have quarters for their families. Is this the life you want to return to? It isn't the one I want for myself or anyone else I know and especially not any of the people here who are looking daily for a good job. For well over 100 years we as a country have taken in refugees and Presidents and Congress have allowed it, to keep them from being tortured or killed or for them to have a safe haven. The fact that they are not citizens can be blamed on a system of naturilization that was broken from the day it was implemented. All you have to do is read what is required to know that many immigrants would have to return to the countries they fled to find the ridiculous amounts of paperwork required by our government for them to start the process of becoming a citizen. I worked with this, I know of what I speak. We can't have it both ways, we can't erase 100 years of welcoming them and now say, nope, you have to go back, you can fix the system. You can take care of the problems with hiring illegally by taking steps to prevent greedy business owners from preying on scared people and offering them 2-3 bucks an hour to work 10 hours a day making pizzas, cleaning kitchens etc. We have a tendency in this country to always put the victims on trial, time to stop that. Business owners need to pay the price for doing illegal hiring. If the government deports the workers and takes no action against the business, it will continue to happen over and over again. For all our hard times and our upset at our country, there are millions who illegally come here to escape what we hope our country will never become and they will continue to do so unless our country changes the laws, legally allows immigration, sets limits and comes up with a system that can process immigrants in a timely fashion.

Please, let's not become what we dislike so much about certain politicians, let's not blame the wrong people for what is happening. The unemployed are not lazy, drug addicted scum living the life of luxury, and many immigrants are not stealing good US jobs. Let begin again to place the blame where it really belongs and fight for what we need, not fight each other. Many of you will disagree and I respect your personal opinions and your right to them. This is however a forum and the tone needs to reflect respect when you express that opinion, what may seem okay to you or to me may be offensive to some.

Thanks for listening.

Agree with you completely MaryKay. My grandparents came to this country for a better life. I think everyone is entitled to that.

Some time ago I said this would happen, and this probably not the only only one.

People are so desperate they would rather take a roof, 3 squares a day, and health care than live like a pauper.

When I said this would happen all I got was flack about how nobody wants jail, or people are not that type, or jail is not the answer. And I agreed, but it does and will happen.

IT IS SO BAD OUT THERE JAIL HAS BECOME A VIABLE OPTION

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110621/ts_yblog_thelookout/man-robs-bank-to-get-medical-care-in-jail

Shame. Yet if he would have had little kids or come illegally he could have gotten free medical.

I don't care what anyone says. This is wrong in every sense! Shame on him and anyone who condones this.

New_Wave_Princess wrote:Shame. Yet if he would have had little kids or come illegally he could have gotten free medical.

What is wrong with children having free medical when their parents lose coverage? This post really hit home with me today. I have two sisters who will be unemployed as of Friday - both are teachers in the same school that will be closing and laying off 33 workers. One is fortunate enough to have the money to pay for COBRA, then switch to her husband's medical when that runs out. The other one is a WIDOW with 4 children - 2 in college and 2 underage. She cannot afford COBRA. Her two oldest are going to lose their health coverage, one has medical problems and will undergo pain management treatment for the rest of his life, but now won't be able to. The two younger ones are in high school - THEY WILL GET FREE MEDICAL COVERAGE AND I AM VERY THANKFUL THEY WILL - THEY DESERVE IT!!

DesperateInRI wrote:

New_Wave_Princess wrote:Shame. Yet if he would have had little kids or come illegally he could have gotten free medical.

What is wrong with children having free medical when their parents lose coverage? This post really hit home with me today. I have two sisters who will be unemployed as of Friday - both are teachers in the same school that will be closing and laying off 33 workers. One is fortunate enough to have the money to pay for COBRA, then switch to her husband's medical when that runs out. The other one is a WIDOW with 4 children - 2 in college and 2 underage. She cannot afford COBRA. Her two oldest are going to lose their health coverage, one has medical problems will undergo pain management treatment for the rest of his life. The two younger ones are in high school - THEY WILL GET FREE MEDICAL COVERAGE AND I AM VERY THANKFUL THEY WILL - THEY DESERVE IT!!

I don't care if kids get free medical, but I do have a problem when the PARENTS get free medical when I can't. In Illinois the parents can get free medical, but I, a long time taxpayer with a medical issue can't. That's why it's not fair.

New_Wave_Princess wrote:

DesperateInRI wrote:

New_Wave_Princess wrote:Shame. Yet if he would have had little kids or come illegally he could have gotten free medical.

What is wrong with children having free medical when their parents lose coverage? This post really hit home with me today. I have two sisters who will be unemployed as of Friday - both are teachers in the same school that will be closing and laying off 33 workers. One is fortunate enough to have the money to pay for COBRA, then switch to her husband's medical when that runs out. The other one is a WIDOW with 4 children - 2 in college and 2 underage. She cannot afford COBRA. Her two oldest are going to lose their health coverage, one has medical problems will undergo pain management treatment for the rest of his life. The two younger ones are in high school - THEY WILL GET FREE MEDICAL COVERAGE AND I AM VERY THANKFUL THEY WILL - THEY DESERVE IT!!

I don't care if kids get free medical, but I do have a problem when the PARENTS get free medical when I can't. In Illinois the parents can get free medical, but I, a long time taxpayer with a medical issue can't. That's why it's not fair.

Very true, the parents get free medical also. That is to protect the children from becoming orphans and put into foster care!

So what? I guess it's better that childless like me pay more and just die because we don't have kids? That is discrimination against childless, and many of these parents are just too lazy to work. I know, I've seen it in Illinois. If childless can't get medical then parents don't deserve it either. Let them pay for it instead of charging childless more.

If the problem is within your state or other states that don't offer it if you are a single man/woman, then the anger should be at the State that makes that decision. I agree it should be equal in all states, but to selfishly state, because you can't have it, no one else should. In PA when I was living there I got nothing, no Food Stamps, No Medical. I also have medical issues. Now that I have lost my home and living with someone in NJ, I get Food Stamps and Medicaid Part G. I would be so happy to be working and back in my home with my belongings in PA and not in this situation, but it was a high price to pay to get coverage.
I could not have children, I am a US Citizen and quite frankly, I resent you making a comment like that. There are many here in your boat and many in mine. Shall we start a war of the haves and have nots? Your dissatisfaction needs to be placed with your Governor and your State, not on the backs of many members who are hurting every bit as badly as you are.

I'm just digusted that parents are put on this pedestal whereas childless aren't. I am seriously tempted to find a guy to have a kid with so I can get freebies.

It's not selfish that I think I deserve medical in Illinois just like parents. I do, I've paid in since I was 16. My life is just as important as theirs. Probably more because I never took off time from work until now.