THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Florida
In an emotional blog post published on the site Women on the Move at the end of last month, Woolrich blamed Florida politicians for her friend’s early death…. “You see the main argument Republicans use is that it’s some lazy person who needs Medicaid expansion. That those of us living without healthcare or dental care are lazy. But my friend, a single beautiful mother, worked three jobs,” Woolrich wrote. “I am burying my best friend because of the policies of the Republican Party. I am burying my best friend because had Medicaid expanded, her needs would have been met.”…. And Dill won’t be the only one. A recent study conducted by Harvard researchers estimated that as many as 17,000 people will die directly as a result of their states refusing to expand Medicaid. In Florida, that translates to about six deaths like Dill’s every single day.
There’s no reason anyone reading this should have ever heard of Charlene Dill, a 32-year-old mother of three. Just another struggling single mother, Dill worked three part time jobs, trying to make ends meet on $9000 a year. Think about that for a second. No matter how you do the math, it doesn’t work out. She never had a chance.
Her misfortune, and ultimate demise, can be attributed to four factors:
1) Being poor
2) Living in a state dominated by Republicans bent on demonizing people like her
3) Living in a state whose Republican leaders refused to take part in the federal government’s Medicaid expansion
4) Having a treatable heart condition, but neither the money nor insurance coverage needed to obtain treatment
5) Falling within the Medicaid coverage gap
Unable to pay for treatment or the insurance coverage that would have saved her life, Dill instead collapsed and died on a stranger’s floor while trying to sell a vacuum cleaner, one of her three jobs. What’s most tragic about this story is that Dill didn’t have to die. In fact, she died needlessly. Had Florida Republicans done the humane thing and agreed to take part in the federal government’s Medicaid expansion program, Dill, and many others like her, would be alive today and caring for their families and friends.
It would be easy to turn this into a (well-deserved) diatribe about Florida Republicans placing political games and an abject hatred of the President above the lives of human beings in order to score points with their base. Given the facts, I think that argument makes itself. Some will object to me portraying Florida Republicans as selfish, mean-spirited, and just plain evil…but what other conclusion could a reasonable person draw from a decision that led directly to the unnecessary death of Charlene Dill?
While Republicans leaders in Florida- including Governor Rick Scott- are responsible for deciding to reject the Medicaid expansion, Dill’s death (and that of others like her) can and should be laid directly at the feet of Florida’s voters. They’re the ones who elected the cabal of corrupt ideologues who decided to make policy with no consideration of the human costs involved. To them, rejecting the Medicaid expansion was simply a political gambit undertaken out of spite for the President and the Affordable Care Act. Before Floridians begin to complain about what’s being done in their name, they’d be well advised to take a good long look in their mirrors.
Staring back at them will be the people who should be ultimately held responsible for Charlene Dill’s untimely- and unnecessary- passing.
I understand that some Republicans hate The Black Man in the White House © with a burning passion that consumes every fiber of their being. That’s their prerogative, and they’re free to allow themselves to be consumed by hatred and anger if they so choose. What I ail to understand is how so many could cling to hatred so tightly that they’d willingly condemn thousands upon thousands of Americans to death (many of which can be prevented with proper treatment) in order to draw their political line in the sand.
The Affordable Care Act was designed to help as many Americans as possible obtain health insurance coverage, so that no American would be denied treatment for lack of money or coverage. It’s not perfect, but it’s a damned sight better than the previous “system,” which was no system at all. We’re a country possessed of the finest medical technology known to manning…and yet we’re burdened with a Third-World health care delivery system. The U.S. is still the only industrialized country which allows its citizens to die for lack of money or insurance coverage. No humane people bases a person’s access to basic health care on the contents of their bank account.
No country but the United States of America, that is…and Florida’s a prime example. If Republicans (and their fellow Floridians who put them in office) are OK with an average of six people per day dying preventable deaths, then no amount of reason will penetrate their black souls.
I can only hope they’re prepared to explain their lack of humanity and their refusal to follow the basics tenets of Christianity when they finally meet the God they so fervently believe in.
