Coffee Can Health Care - Ch. 4

 

By Jeff Simpson

Tim Alsip, from Portland Oregon needed help, and he had no where to go to get it.   See Mr. Alsip has a  history of mental illness, addiction and dental problems(anyone who has ever had a toothache knows how terrible this can be).


Now turn quickly to Washington DC, where Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and John Boehner are in the midst of a five week paid vacation.   Before they left for their FIVE week paid vacation, they took up the very important business of voting to repeal Obamacare for the FORTIETH time!    Of course, Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) had to check in with his bosses before he took his paid vacation, but that is another blog!

 

Now we switch back to Portland, Oregon.  While the republicans in Congress, have made their sole priority, making sure President Obama has no successes, Mr, Alsip was in too much pain and in need of so much help, that he had no where to turn.  So he turned, in desperation, to a crime.

He decided to rob a bank!   

On Friday morning, 50-year-old Alsip walked into a Portland-area Bank of America and calmly handed the teller a note: “This is a hold up. Give me a dollar.” Alsip then took his single dollar bill and sat quietly in the lobby, waiting for police to arrive. According to The Oregonian, he has a history of mental illness, addiction, and dental problems that seem to have gone untreated. Sacrificing his freedom was the price Alsip felt he had to pay to receive medical care.

Alsip is currently homeless and has no past criminal record in the state. He was arrested without incident and charged with second-degree robbery and bail set at $250,000.

 Things are so bad, in the real world, that an American, desperate for health care and homeless had no where to turn but to crime.  Luckily, for the people of Portland, Mr. Alsip's desperation, couple with mental illness, did not decide to arm himself with 6000 rounds.

 

Instead he choose to get help the only way he knew how.  Now the man who asked peacefully for $1, will be sitting in a jail cell with a $250,000 bail.   Hopefully he gets the medical help he so desperately needs, then they drop the charges.   

However, when will people ever learn?  Steal $1 go to jail, "lose" $80,000,000 and you get elected Governor.   

We Are Having the Wrong Debate

After the horrific events in Aurora, CO as a time to talk about gun control. While I do think we need to have that conversation, the NRA has such a stronghold on our political system that we all know nothing will change and no politician will have the courage to even put reasonable controls on assault weapons.  Even if Senator Ron Johnson thinks that people in Wisconsin hunt with 100 round clips and assault weapons(no one ever accused the Sen RoJo of being intelligent).  

 The debate I think we should be having that might actually change something, in the wake of this tragedy, is healthcare!  

One of the victims of the Aurora tragedy is Caleb Medley.   Mr. Medley who is currently unemployed, was shot in the eye during the assault. 

Caleb Medley was shot in the eye in the Aurora movie theater shooting and remains in the intensive care unit in an induced coma. Medley sustained the terrible injuries only days before his wife Katie was due to give birth to a baby boy they plan to name Hugo. She now joins him in the same hospital — just one floor away — where she was set to be induced.

But even if Caleb makes a full recovery and meets his son, what happened late Friday evening at the movie theater could ruin the young family’s finances. Caleb doesn’t have health insurance, and his medical bills could amount to $2 million, according to his family.

 Caleb’s life will be forever altered by this unexpected and horrific event, a constant fear of many uninsured Americans. The Affordable Care Act — much of which will not be fully implemented until 2014 — extends health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans like Caleb.

So what should happen to Caleb??  His life is forever changed, through NO fault of his own, and now he is $2,000,000 in the hole(and with a new baby, who is another victim in this).  While the republicans are putting all of their eggs in the repeal Obamacare basket, which would help people like Caleb, they also have no alternative to replace it. 

I would love to see the republicans explain EXACTLY what should happen to Caleb and how their policies would help him.  NOT dance around the topic.  Can Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) look into a camera(because he sure knows how to find a camera) and explain exactly how the policies he advocates for would help Caleb and his new family?  Or does he NOT care about helping people like Caleb and his newborn?   We know the audience at a republican debate let it be known that they think Caleb made his choice to have no healthcare so he should pay that price now.   Is that how the republican politicians think also? 

The democrats are not perfect on this either.  Why is Obamacre not coming into full effect until 2014?  What would they say and what have they done to help someone like Caleb? 

Since our current batch of republican politicians have brought us this coffee can health care system, its time to put out that coffee can.  

You can help Caleb Medley by donating here and joining his facebook page here!

You can also help by calling your elected representative and demanding answers!   It's time for them to stop playing games with people's lives and help the Caleb's of our great country!