Priority Problems: The Failure Of Government Aid
I recently saw a teenage boy with headaches. His father, wringing his hands, said that the headaches had been present for two years; but that the child had never been evaluated for them. No imaging, no neurologist. No insurance, of course.
A family friend, another child, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family of my patient was terrified. Where to turn? They were, reasonably, concerned about cost.
Contrast that with the woman I saw on state assistance. Her non-urgent, non-life-threatening medical complaint, which shall remain unspecified, would probably improve with weight loss. Significant weight loss.
‘Medicaid was paying for my diet pills. They were $300 per month, but I couldn’t get them this month.’
Does the morality of this seem inverted to anyone but me? Federal/state assistance to an individual who is obese, not starving, and who needs federal/state funds for diet pills to lose weight. All while a teen cannot afford to see a neurologist to rule out dangerous etiologies for headache.
We have some serious priority problems in America today.
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
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