@Paradise Bakery, Paradise Valley
Fridays have become a day that I go to my allergist for shots. It also happens that Fridays are my usual day to volunteer at the Justa Center and I was there again yesterday. I don’t know if it was the imminent visit to the doctor, the healthcare debate or the newspaper headline I chanced to see –Mayo Clinic to not accept Medicare coverage – but I thought of the many healthcare issues present where I was.
The first was the guy with cancer. He is hard to miss. There is a large open sore between his ear and eye. It is somewhat larger than a fist. Looks terrible. He is about 10 years older than I am – I am 67, if you don’t remember - and sits quietly in the same chair for the four hours I am there. I have been told by staff members that he is a “really nice person”. It has to be tough to be homeless with all the disadvantages and obstacles of that condition and to have a cancerous sore on your face as well.
Then there were two people that had doctor’s appointments and were transported (by cab) to Maricopa County Medical Center. I only know the reason for the visit for one of the men. The day before (Thursday) his blood sugar had been over 500. Diabetes is a common enough problem among the homeless. He is one of the fortunate ones that know about the condition. Some don’t until it is too late. I often joke with this man and know from firsthand that he is a nice guy, always cheerful and upbeat.
In the late sixties I worked with a member of the John Birch Society (since I don’t want to be political I will give a pro link here and a con link here). His favorite saying was: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. That was his way of alluding to the fact that if the government pays for something it is really the taxpayers that foot the bill. He is against public healthcare because he doesn’t want to pay for other people’s healthcare. He would also characterize it as a communist conspiracy but that is a different kettle of worms. I did not research the JBS’s position on healthcare so I can’t say if my ex-coworker represents the official JBS position but I would bet its close. And if it is not then there are loads of others that agree with him.
My ex-coworker and the JBS never follow the “no free lunch” theory to its logical conclusion. Taxpayers pay for the healthcare of the homeless even if there is no public healthcare. The cost just devolves to local governments. Like the state, county and city.
Then there is the sad fact that there are people that are homeless due to being overwhelmed by medical bills. I know of at least one at the Justa Center. There are also the indirect costs of this business. It is true do-gooders such as myself (or the organizations we labor for) aren’t paid for by tax dollars. But what could we do if there were no homeless care for?
There is an alternative of course. We could allow everyone that can’t afford to pay for healthcare to just die. Talk about government death squads. Think I would have to vote no for that
Where does all that “faith based initiative” money come from anyway?
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