A trip to the Dentist

[caneycreekducker]

I took my wife to the dentist to have her wisdom teeth removed yesterday. While she was in the back, I sat in the waiting room reading a book. A lady (+/-30 years old) came in with a child and ?her mother?. The lady was seeing the dentist. I was not really listening, but I could not help but hear. The receptionist inquired abouth payment.....Medicaid. Ok fill out this form and have a seat. I glanced up at the woman, typical unemployed person: over weight, dressed rathed trashy, old warmups, oversized tee shirt with a picture of Tweety bird on it (you know the one), a pair of Nike sneekers (brand new from the look of them). I have grown so accustom to this very sight in doctor offices that I probally would not even thought it note worthy to bring up but....

In the door came a man and a women. She was leading him and he carried a cane. He was blind. They were probally in thier mid 60s. Neatly dressed and very well spoken. She helped him to a seat and proceeded to talk to the receptionist. Once again payment was discussed. The lady asked if they accepted Medicare. Not unless you have a dental supplement. Ok I'll just pay with cash. I wondered for a moment why one person was more deserving of "help" while another who to me seemed more disavantaged (blind) was not. Then I went back to my reading, end of story.............But:

I am not sure why blind people speak louder the the rest of us, maybe it is because they can't tell if you are paying them attention, so they try to attain that attention by speaking loudly. The husband and wife began talking about rather insugnificant stuff, the kind of stuff husbands and wives talk about. I really tried to concentrate on my book, but as I said he spoke rather loudly. The conversation was about how prompt the dentist might be, would he see them at 2 or would they be waiting long, etc. I read on not particuarly paying much attention, then the man said something.....Do you remember that guy Bob I use to work with? Yes. He didn't have a tooth in his head, but he had a removable plate. Well ole Bob would come to work, pull out that plate and chew tobacco all day long. That is repulsive his wife said. Well ole Bob was a good ole boy. Remember that movie about the crazy dentist that pulled all the teeth out of the tax man? Yes. I hope this ain't that kind of dentist. (I realized at this point, the man had not been blind all his life) I heard Lamar retired last year. Him and Sue got 'em a motor home and go down to the lake quite often, boy that is the life, Him and Sue got it made don't they? I wouldn't know his wife replied. Well they do! That has to be the life. She cut him off. Do you remember what we discussed last night? No he said. Yes you do. I asked you if there was anyone else in this world you could be, who would you be? He remained silent. She continued: I would not change a thing in my life, she said, I am the happiest woman in the world right here with you. So, who would you want to be? (I felt a lump in my throat) No one else I recon, he replied....but, I would do anything for my sight. (I damn near started to cry). We'll make though she said.

I think I whitnessed an expression of unconditional love right there in a dentist office.

From across the room the older lady that came in with Mrs. Medicaid asked how long he had been blind. Four years his wife replied. Yea I went to bed one night and woke up blind. That's not entirely true his wife stated. You were out for 4 weeks...I am just glad you woke up at all. Well it ruined my plans he said. Then in sort of a dreamy voice he said to no one "I sure had a lot of plans...."

That is when the nurse came and got me, my wife was ready.

I never did find out what caused his blindness, guess it doesn't matter. What does matter is why does a man, who from what I gathered, work his whole life making plans, striving for that brass ring, get a few years from retirement then get struck down with a life changing disability, that changed everything. Why does his just deserved Medicare policy not cover a trip to the dentist, and some unmarried, unemployed, uncontributing member of society gets a free visit?

Why?

ccd

[peewee]

CCD great story, but you answered your question already. The man tried, he worked for a living. The lowlife just expects everything to be given to her.

I have a similar story. I worked in a drug store here in V'burg in my younger days. I saw alot of what you described. Well across the street there was an old store. Mr. Wilson owned the store and had a older black man named Zack that worked for him. Well Zack in my mind was as good as they come. When he needed help he would come get me to help him with his deliveries.
Well I went of to MSU and my wife called me one day and told me Zack had died. I said do what, He was in good shape and I couldn't believe it. Well the story goes he had gotten pnemonia (however its spelled) and went to the doctor. They couldn't keep him and treat b/c he wasn't on medicare and didn't have any money. Wasn't a day or two later he was dead.

You want to talk about being pi**ed off. This is a man who had worked hard his whole life. People say hospitals and doctors cant turn you down and sh*t, well someone needs to tell Zack that.

Our dang welfare system is a joke. It encourages people to become sorry in nature and not to work.

Got more to say on this topic but just dont have the time. Done got pi**ed of just thinking about it.

[tunica du4u]

This seem to be the fitting place to post this:

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER - 1962
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
long, building his house and laying in supplies for the
winter The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and
laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the
ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or
shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


THE ANT & GRASSHOPPER-2002

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying in supplies for
the winter The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the
shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be
warm and well-fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in
his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast How can this be,
that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on
Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green.
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house, where the news stations film the group
singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's
sake. Al Gore exclaims in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the
grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share."
Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti- Grasshopper Act,"retroactive to the beginning of
the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs. And, having
nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government. Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of Federal judges that Bill had appointed from a list of single-parent
welfare recipients. The ant loses the case The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the
ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around
him because he hasn't maintained it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead
in a drug-related incident in the house, now abandoned, and taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize
the once peaceful neighborhood.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

[Ringbill]

CCD-
I want to thank you for sharing that story with us...and me especially. I have my own opinions on "Why?"..but none of them matter here. I don't believe in fate for a second, but I am grateful you told me that story...and I won't forget it.

Ringbill

[digger]

That the way it seem's to work these day's,those that work get took and those who don't get fat.I got two stories,my wife's aunt an old maid worked all her life in the field and other odd job's couldet get but 100 dollars foodstamp's a mo. Next in the store one night woman in front of me type describded earlyre couldnt buy dog food with her stamp's went and got a whole ham and proudly said guess dog will eat ham tonight.YOU COULD DO AWAY WITH WELFARE AND NAFTA AND SOLVE 90 PERCENT OF OUR COUNTRY'S PROBLEM'S.

[motherducker]

Hey, caneycreekducker, about that "typically unemployed person", weren't you wearing old warm-ups and an oversized T-shirt under your waders last season when we left Tupelo Gum.

[gator]

hey, i worked at a drug store on an internship this summer (had my Z-71 almost swiped but the beer delivery guy saved me) and had one patient come in w/ 5 prescriptions every first of the month (that's now the max you can have on medicaid w/out approval from medicaid)...this same person came to the drive-thru and was driving a BRAND NEW JAGUAR Now THAT sucks...second story....had a guy on medicaid (you know, the savior of all "underpaid"/"overworked" Americans...well, this guy came in getting viagra and sustiva...both of which are two of the most expensive drugs on the market...but wait, that's not the worst part...all of you know what viagra is for, but you may not know what sustiva is for...AIDS...that's right, your money is going to that...good thing is, the pharm. i worked under, refused to fill the viagra rx., got in all sorts of trouble w/ the company, but stucked to his guns...i would like someone to answer 'why' our money goes to something like that?