$1 Bank Robbery To Get Healthcare

ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
edited June 2011 in A Moving Train
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ju ... healthcare



US man stages $1 bank robbery to get state healthcare

Unemployed and without health insurance, man in North Carolina has himself arrested in order to receive treatment


Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 June 2011




It was not perhaps the most obvious way of getting a bad back, arthritis and a dodgy foot seen to. But if you're unemployed in North Carolina with no health insurance, there is no obvious way.

So on 9 June James Verone left his Gastonia home, took a ride to a bank and carried out a robbery. Well, sort of.

What he did was hand the clerk a note that said: "This is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar." Then, as he later told the local NBC news station, he calmly sat in the corner of the bank having told the clerk: "I'll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police."

Before his peculiarly modest robbery, Verone, 59, sent a letter to the Gaston Gazette. "When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body."

He invited the paper to send a reporter to interview him in Gaston county jail, where he is now in custody facing charges of stealing from a person (for just $1 the prosecutors didn't think they could hold up a bank robbery charge).

He told the paper he had lost his job after 17 years as a Coca-Cola delivery man, and with it his health insurance. He was in increasing pain from slipped discs, arthritic joints, a gammy foot and a growth on his chest.

Since being in the jail he has attained his goal: he has been seen by nurses and an appointment with a doctor is booked.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • I remember a Tea Bagger going on about how "anyone can get free health care... just go to an emergency room and fall down." Because we should have to resort to parlour tricks to see a doctor.

    He then explained that he'd needed health care once and didn't have insurance so he had to go and lie about how much he made to get some assistance program.

    He then railed against health care legislation because "I shouldn't have to pay for anyone else's insurance..."

    And didn't realize we'd paid for his.

    (but don't call the baggers stupid... they get upset.)
  • BinauralJamBinauralJam Posts: 14,158
    This is actually a time honored tradition from what i understand, i've worked with a few guys over the years who have informed me that they broke the law and waited around for the cops so they could get their teeth fixed, it's a good strategic/finanical move.
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Stupidity has no political affiliation. But the tea party has a monopoly on selfishness and short sightedness. Good for this guy. Tax payers will be paying much more for his healthcare and shelter and meals etc etc...

    Universal healthcare is the only way to go.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,436

    Universal healthcare is the only way to go.

    Yes! And it's a bloody shame that we don't have it here.
    "Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!"
    -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"

    "Try to not spook the horse."
    -Neil Young













  • JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
    This will become a common practice, I bet!!
  • mikepegg44mikepegg44 Posts: 3,353
    Jeanwah wrote:
    This will become a common practice, I bet!!


    this has been done for years, more by homeless people
    that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
    It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
    - Joe Rogan
  • BlockheadBlockhead Posts: 1,538
    So were supporting robbery now???
    So your perfectly fine with me going into a business or someone house and taking something I don't have/can't afford? Maybe he should put his time and effort into getting another job that could provide insurance instead of commiting a crime. Who is going to hire him now that he has a felony?
  • Electric_DeltaElectric_Delta Posts: 977
    edited June 2011
    Universal healthcare is the only way to go.

    Maybe, but not the way Barry's pulling it off. How again are we going to afford it?
    Bristow, VA (5/13/10)
  • JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
    mikepegg44 wrote:
    Jeanwah wrote:
    This will become a common practice, I bet!!


    this has been done for years, more by homeless people

    Yeah, I knew the homeless have been doing this, but I think it was more for a place to live and care. Now people are doing it purely for the health benefits.
  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,157
    Didn't Obama fix this problem a few years ago?

    What the fuck passed? Has anyone figured this out yet?
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • ed243421ed243421 Posts: 7,671
    makes me sick
    some people think
    60 year olds who have worked most of their lives
    shit jobs
    hard labor
    who gives coca-cola 17 years of his life
    17 years in which coca-cola probably made billions
    who gets laid off
    and ends up homeless
    after working for 40+ years in his 1 life
    some people actually think
    the only way this guy deserves free medical aid
    is if
    at 59 years old
    with a bad back and other medical issues
    he can find employment that offers healthcare
    makes me fuckin sick
    The whole world will be different soon... - EV
    RED ROCKS 6-19-95
    AUGUSTA 9-26-96
    MANSFIELD 9-15-98
    BOSTON 9-29-04
    BOSTON 5-25-06
    MANSFIELD 6-30-08
    EV SOLO BOSTON 8-01-08
    BOSTON 5-17-10
    EV SOLO BOSTON 6-16-11
    PJ20 9-3-11
    PJ20 9-4-11
    WRIGLEY 7-19-13
    WORCESTER 10-15-13
    WORCESTER 10-16-13
    HARTFORD 10-25-13









  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Universal healthcare is the only way to go.

    Maybe, but not the way Barry's pulling it off. How again are we going to afford it?
    it doesn't matter. you would oppose it no matter how it is paid for...
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Blockhead wrote:
    So were supporting robbery now???
    So your perfectly fine with me going into a business or someone house and taking something I don't have/can't afford? Maybe he should put his time and effort into getting another job that could provide insurance instead of commiting a crime. Who is going to hire him now that he has a felony?
    this is what happens when the poor get desperate. crime rises. "conservatives" fail to see this, and they fail to recognize that doing away with entitlement programs will only encourage this...
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • it doesn't matter. you would oppose it no matter how it is paid for...

    In it's current over-reaching form, definitely.
    Bristow, VA (5/13/10)
  • BlockheadBlockhead Posts: 1,538
    Blockhead wrote:
    So were supporting robbery now???
    So your perfectly fine with me going into a business or someone house and taking something I don't have/can't afford? Maybe he should put his time and effort into getting another job that could provide insurance instead of commiting a crime. Who is going to hire him now that he has a felony?
    this is what happens when the poor get desperate. crime rises. "conservatives" fail to see this, and they fail to recognize that doing away with entitlement programs will only encourage this...
    How about instead of just handing them privliages/money, we actually teach them work ethic. Why do you de-value teaching/education of working/earning what you have/saving for the future. Instead you think they should just be handed something so they will get off your back and "hope" they don't commit crimes.
    You would make a lousy parent/father...
    You make it sound as if its perfectly fine to commit crimes because you don't have something you think you sould be entitled to???
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Blockhead wrote:
    Blockhead wrote:
    So were supporting robbery now???
    So your perfectly fine with me going into a business or someone house and taking something I don't have/can't afford? Maybe he should put his time and effort into getting another job that could provide insurance instead of commiting a crime. Who is going to hire him now that he has a felony?
    this is what happens when the poor get desperate. crime rises. "conservatives" fail to see this, and they fail to recognize that doing away with entitlement programs will only encourage this...
    How about instead of just handing them privliages/money, we actually teach them work ethic. Why do you de-value teaching/education of working/earning what you have/saving for the future. Instead you think they should just be handed something so they will get off your back and "hope" they don't commit crimes.
    You would make a lousy parent/father...
    You make it sound as if its perfectly fine to commit crimes because you don't have something you think you sould be entitled to???
    how about actually addressing the problem? poor unskilled people need to make a life too. they need to be taught and trained. this all goes back to your hatred for anything that helps anybody out with your tax money. maybe the government has to take taxes because people like you would choose to pay nothing?

    and you have no right to judge me as a father. i actually have plenty to say about that, and your parenting style, but i will keep that off of the board.. because i see the world differently than you does not make me a lousy parent. one of the reasons i will send my children to public school is so they would not have to be exposed to people with your version of family values. i work with a lot of private school kids at my job every day. the rich, spolied brats who think they are better than everyone else. we refer to them as "Spalding", like the priveleged brat from caddyshack...

    the bottom line is if we do not help the poor, the poor will take from the rich, and go to jail so that all of us have to take care of them anyway. i think jesus would say the same...
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • BlockheadBlockhead Posts: 1,538
    how about actually addressing the problem? poor unskilled people need to make a life too. they need to be taught and trained. this all goes back to your hatred for anything that helps anybody out with your tax money. maybe the government has to take taxes because people like you would choose to pay nothing?

    and you have no right to judge me as a father. i actually have plenty to say about that, and your parenting style, but i will keep that off of the board.. because i see the world differently than you does not make me a lousy parent. one of the reasons i will send my children to public school is so they would not have to be exposed to people with your version of family values. i work with a lot of private school kids at my job every day. the rich, spolied brats who think they are better than everyone else. we refer to them as "Spalding", like the priveleged brat from caddyshack...

    the bottom line is if we do not help the poor, the poor will take from the rich, and go to jail so that all of us have to take care of them anyway. i think jesus would say the same...
    I have said a million times that I would love to pay taxes into social programs that are intended to help and not hand out. Education,planning,workforce education, workshops, etc.. I would love to pay for. But I am not going to support just giving my money out in a monthly check to people. LOL way to generalize the private education... :roll: So because the people are like that in your area means there like that everywhere?
    I know you would hate my family values - which is personal responsibility... Thats a foreign term to you..
    So your allowed to address the private school kids you work with and generalize and thats how you form your opinion, yet when I talk about the public school inner city kids my wife works with (which is much more than you) my opinion is invalid... You are the most hypocritical post I have ever communicated with... Please have some consistancy please. And please explain why you think just handing someone money (who has no education on how to save, earn it) is helping them?
  • Blockhead wrote:
    how about actually addressing the problem? poor unskilled people need to make a life too. they need to be taught and trained. this all goes back to your hatred for anything that helps anybody out with your tax money. maybe the government has to take taxes because people like you would choose to pay nothing?

    and you have no right to judge me as a father. i actually have plenty to say about that, and your parenting style, but i will keep that off of the board.. because i see the world differently than you does not make me a lousy parent. one of the reasons i will send my children to public school is so they would not have to be exposed to people with your version of family values. i work with a lot of private school kids at my job every day. the rich, spolied brats who think they are better than everyone else. we refer to them as "Spalding", like the priveleged brat from caddyshack...

    the bottom line is if we do not help the poor, the poor will take from the rich, and go to jail so that all of us have to take care of them anyway. i think jesus would say the same...
    I have said a million times that I would love to pay taxes into social programs that are intended to help and not hand out. Education,planning,workforce education, workshops, etc.. I would love to pay for. But I am not going to support just giving my money out in a monthly check to people. LOL way to generalize the private education... :roll: So because the people are like that in your area means there like that everywhere?
    I know you would hate my family values - which is personal responsibility... Thats a foreign term to you..
    So your allowed to address the private school kids you work with and generalize and thats how you form your opinion, yet when I talk about the public school inner city kids my wife works with (which is much more than you) my opinion is invalid... You are the most hypocritical post I have ever communicated with... Please have some consistancy please. And please explain why you think just handing someone money (who has no education on how to save, earn it) is helping them?

    This.
    Bristow, VA (5/13/10)
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Blockhead wrote:
    how about actually addressing the problem? poor unskilled people need to make a life too. they need to be taught and trained. this all goes back to your hatred for anything that helps anybody out with your tax money. maybe the government has to take taxes because people like you would choose to pay nothing?

    and you have no right to judge me as a father. i actually have plenty to say about that, and your parenting style, but i will keep that off of the board.. because i see the world differently than you does not make me a lousy parent. one of the reasons i will send my children to public school is so they would not have to be exposed to people with your version of family values. i work with a lot of private school kids at my job every day. the rich, spolied brats who think they are better than everyone else. we refer to them as "Spalding", like the priveleged brat from caddyshack...

    the bottom line is if we do not help the poor, the poor will take from the rich, and go to jail so that all of us have to take care of them anyway. i think jesus would say the same...
    I have said a million times that I would love to pay taxes into social programs that are intended to help and not hand out. Education,planning,workforce education, workshops, etc.. I would love to pay for. But I am not going to support just giving my money out in a monthly check to people. LOL way to generalize the private education... :roll: So because the people are like that in your area means there like that everywhere?
    I know you would hate my family values - which is personal responsibility... Thats a foreign term to you..
    So your allowed to address the private school kids you work with and generalize and thats how you form your opinion, yet when I talk about the public school inner city kids my wife works with (which is much more than you) my opinion is invalid... You are the most hypocritical post I have ever communicated with... Please have some consistancy please. And please explain why you think just handing someone money (who has no education on how to save, earn it) is helping them?
    you may have said that a million times, but the more you say it the less i believe it. it is fairly obvious what you are doing. you are taking a position that you know is unrealistic and then resorting to namecalling because you know that your position is not defendable. namecalling is the first sign of a lost argument. you have railed against every social program ad nauseum here for months. that is your opinion, i get that. just don't qualify it by saying i am for this or for that, while railing against medicaid, universal health care, and taxes in general.
    as far as education goes, i am assuming that the private education you are speaking of is some sort of faith based school. i am sure that jesus would not agree with most of your positions on these issues, but that is something that you will have to take up with him, if you believe that sort of thing. private schooling is not a necessity.

    personal responsibility is not a foreign term to me, but thanks for proving my earlier point.
    i happen to live in a reality where not everyone has personal responsibility. i do not get upset about it, actually i like to help people who are down on their luck. i am not sure what insular society you live in or what utopia you are hoping for, but any resemblance between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.

    i have stated i have worked at a school as their athletic trainer with a very high concentration of uninsured, publicly insured, and kids below the poverty line. do not try to act like i have not seen poverty. i have seen kids who have had to have a fundraiser held in their honor so they can raise money for the acl reconstruction he needed to play football in college. your wife is not some hero because she sees things like this. this is what we do in a society. we help each other. most of us on here have worked with poor and underpriveleged people.
    and how am i the most hypocritical person on here? i stay true to my convictions, and i do not go about qualifying things. fact is, we need universal health care, and until we ge it, these things will continue to happen. and in all honsety i find it quite funny that people get angry about it when a man commits a crime to go to jail where he can have health care. doesn't taht strike you that there is a serious problem with our health care system in this country? where a man can steal $1 and go to jail and reap thousands of dollars of tax money for health care, food and shelter?? i see that as resourceful. and if i were an employer i might hire this guy just because of his creativity.

    people call me a saint when i give food or money or health care to the poor, but they call me a socialist when i ask why the poor have no food or money or health care...
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    Blockhead wrote:
    how about actually addressing the problem? poor unskilled people need to make a life too. they need to be taught and trained. this all goes back to your hatred for anything that helps anybody out with your tax money. maybe the government has to take taxes because people like you would choose to pay nothing?

    and you have no right to judge me as a father. i actually have plenty to say about that, and your parenting style, but i will keep that off of the board.. because i see the world differently than you does not make me a lousy parent. one of the reasons i will send my children to public school is so they would not have to be exposed to people with your version of family values. i work with a lot of private school kids at my job every day. the rich, spolied brats who think they are better than everyone else. we refer to them as "Spalding", like the priveleged brat from caddyshack...

    the bottom line is if we do not help the poor, the poor will take from the rich, and go to jail so that all of us have to take care of them anyway. i think jesus would say the same...
    I have said a million times that I would love to pay taxes into social programs that are intended to help and not hand out. Education,planning,workforce education, workshops, etc.. I would love to pay for. But I am not going to support just giving my money out in a monthly check to people. LOL way to generalize the private education... :roll: So because the people are like that in your area means there like that everywhere?
    I know you would hate my family values - which is personal responsibility... Thats a foreign term to you..
    So your allowed to address the private school kids you work with and generalize and thats how you form your opinion, yet when I talk about the public school inner city kids my wife works with (which is much more than you) my opinion is invalid... You are the most hypocritical post I have ever communicated with... Please have some consistancy please. And please explain why you think just handing someone money (who has no education on how to save, earn it) is helping them?

    waaaaa....me no wanna pay taxes for things I don't agree with....waaaaaaaa

    as I've said before, welcome to Society...thanks for playing... :lol:
  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,157
    If it's someone's master plan to go to jail on purpose to feed of the tit of the taxpayers ... well go for it. I don't think we will see a large surge over homeless people that have been doing the same thing for years to get shelter and hot meal.

    I think it's stupid, but if you think the risk of getting shanked or sexually assaulted for healthcare is the best plan on the table... have fun! I think I would contact churches and local charities first if it came down to it.
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    Jason P wrote:
    I think it's stupid, but if you think the risk of getting shanked or sexually assaulted for healthcare is the best plan on the table... have fun! I think I would contact churches and local charities first if it came down to it.
    well i would rather risk getting shanked than dying a horribly slow cancer death on the streets somewhere.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • brandon10brandon10 Posts: 1,114
    Blockhead wrote:
    Blockhead wrote:
    So were supporting robbery now???
    So your perfectly fine with me going into a business or someone house and taking something I don't have/can't afford? Maybe he should put his time and effort into getting another job that could provide insurance instead of commiting a crime. Who is going to hire him now that he has a felony?
    this is what happens when the poor get desperate. crime rises. "conservatives" fail to see this, and they fail to recognize that doing away with entitlement programs will only encourage this...
    How about instead of just handing them privliages/money, we actually teach them work ethic. Why do you de-value teaching/education of working/earning what you have/saving for the future. Instead you think they should just be handed something so they will get off your back and "hope" they don't commit crimes.
    You would make a lousy parent/father...
    You make it sound as if its perfectly fine to commit crimes because you don't have something you think you sould be entitled to???


    Teach them work ethic?? Are you retarded?? The guy worked with coca-cola for 17 years!! He is 59 years old! You haven't got a fucking clue. Your right wing bias is pathetic. You are so warped in your fucked up bias to see that you are ruining what could be a truly amazing country.
  • mikepegg44mikepegg44 Posts: 3,353
    Jason P wrote:
    I think it's stupid, but if you think the risk of getting shanked or sexually assaulted for healthcare is the best plan on the table... have fun! I think I would contact churches and local charities first if it came down to it.
    well i would rather risk getting shanked than dying a horribly slow cancer death on the streets somewhere.


    he could have applied for the state run ma program
    http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dma/medicaid/index.htm
    or gone to a free/sliding fee scale clinic
    http://www.ncfreeclinics.org/Getting_He ... linic.aspx

    it is probably best just to focus on the political statement rather than utilize the actual services that are out there for people like him
    that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
    It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
    - Joe Rogan
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    mikepegg44 wrote:
    Jason P wrote:
    I think it's stupid, but if you think the risk of getting shanked or sexually assaulted for healthcare is the best plan on the table... have fun! I think I would contact churches and local charities first if it came down to it.
    well i would rather risk getting shanked than dying a horribly slow cancer death on the streets somewhere.


    he could have applied for the state run ma program
    http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dma/medicaid/index.htm
    or gone to a free/sliding fee scale clinic
    http://www.ncfreeclinics.org/Getting_He ... linic.aspx

    it is probably best just to focus on the political statement rather than utilize the actual services that are out there for people like him

    um....I live in NC...

    applying does not = coverage...

    And the sliding fee scale has been changed to point were it's nearly impossible to get covered...

    I guess he should have crossed his fingers, hoped, and died waiting...that way he wouldn't such a lazy teet sucker...
  • mikepegg44mikepegg44 Posts: 3,353
    inmytree wrote:
    mikepegg44 wrote:
    well i would rather risk getting shanked than dying a horribly slow cancer death on the streets somewhere.


    he could have applied for the state run ma program
    http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dma/medicaid/index.htm
    or gone to a free/sliding fee scale clinic
    http://www.ncfreeclinics.org/Getting_He ... linic.aspx

    it is probably best just to focus on the political statement rather than utilize the actual services that are out there for people like him

    um....I live in NC...

    applying does not = coverage...

    And the sliding fee scale has been changed to point were it's nearly impossible to get covered...

    I guess he should have crossed his fingers, hoped, and died waiting...that way he wouldn't such a lazy teet sucker...

    do they not use the FPL guidelines to apply the sliding fee scale?
    care to elaborate, I am interested as I work at a sliding fee clinic and i can tell you ours slides to ZERO for most of the people who come in here... is there a base that they slide to for coverage?
    i am not asking as a smart ass, I know that eventually our business model will be forced to change and I would like to know how theirs changed
    that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
    It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
    - Joe Rogan
Sign In or Register to comment.