[StBernard] Young Doctor, Great Point

[Westley Annis]

Dear Mr. President: 
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of
evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth,
whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly
tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on
a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular musical ringtone. 
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer
status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient
informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every
day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. 
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care?  I
contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a
shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses.  Rather, it is the result
of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to
spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self
or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance.  It is a culture based in the
irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else
will always take care of me". 
Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and
dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care
difficulties will disappear. 
Respectfully, 

STARNER JONES, MD