Casino Time
A "lady" and her adult son come in for their medications. They're both on state funded Medicaid but one of his medications (Phentermine) is not covered and he always pays cash. He's paying for his medication with a credit card (not a debit card) and his mom quickly tells him to get some cash back. I'm used to seeing that-- people want a little extra money for their wallet or whatever... but he says "No, mom, we don't need no money." His voice makes an odd whistle through his missing teeth as he speaks.
Oddly enough (sense some sarcasm here), he doesn't appear to need Phentermine. But mom definitely could use some sort of weight loss help. She's sporting a hefty BMI. But I digress...
She gets more insistent. "Get $100 back! I want to go to the casino!"
My, what a marvelous example to her son. Not only is she suggesting they go blow some money at the casino, she wants him to "charge it" which will cost them 24.5% in interest in the long run. How is it that they have money to spend at the casino anyway when their on Medicaid? Oh, I forget, Obama fixed healthcare!
Skinny son tells his mom, "We ain't going to no casino, I done told you that already."
Mom rolls her eyes. She looks in the bag of medications. "Is my meh-toe-pro-laul in here?"
"Yes," I reply. "Have a nice day."
"It ain't gunna be a nice day! My son is dis-abey'in his own momma!"
6 comments:
I think I figured out why people have 'issue' with your attitide on medicaid.
People abuse medicaid, no doubting that, but you continually slap around what's wrong with the program, rather then what's wrong with the people.
Look here, for example. Here you have a case of a woman with an addiction to gambling--an addiction just as real as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or similar--and a son who's trying to take care of her.
You mock BOTH of them, despite the fact that he's clearly trying hard to keep her away from her addiction, despite the fact that he's obviously in the role of 'caretaker' rather then 'child'. And you mock a woman with an ADDICTION for wanting to waste money on an ADDICTION. (which, y'know, fair enough, but the kid is obviously trying to prevent it--he doesn't deserve to be drug through the mud for trying to do the right thing)
and then top it all off? You toss in a side ways THANKS OBAMA in there even though it really.. adds nothing to the sad story.
I appreciate your comments but my intention was not to mock an addiction. Given the brevity of the story, I can see your interpretation of the event. And while I respect your right to interpret it the way you want, I am also free to make my own interpretation. What I saw (and see every month) is a guy leeching off the system but somehow manages to come up with $47 each month for his "energy buzz." I also see a guy protecting his money from his mother, not trying to take care of his mother.
I also disagree with your initial assessment. I pretty much dislike people taking advantage of the Medicaid program just as much as I dislike the program itself.
Medicaid engenders an attitude of entitlement at the public's expense... and addiction or not, the flagrant mismanagement of money at the very moment when they're getting their "entitlement" is extremely difficult to visually ingest without spouting off.
If this were an isolated incident, or if I didn't see Medicaid abuses day after day, week after week, I wouldn't bring it up. But I do, and I freely vent about it because the "YOU OWE ME" attitude is getting worse every year. And in the case of Casino Lady, the irony of the situation itself was just too much to pass up without blogging it.
I'm not alone in seeing Medicaid abuses. However, I will certainly admit I need to work on not stepping on people's precious politically-correct toes.
What in the heck does Obama have to do with a woman who wants to gamble away money and her son abusing phentermine?
You do know that most of Medicaid goes to pay for end-of-life care, right? And kids. Those are some really entitled people there!
You take away the drug benefits for these people like in your post here: you think they're going to keep taking their blood pressure medications? Nope. They don't have the budgeting sense to not put cash on a credit card; they definitely won't handle paying $30 or more each month for each medication. And then they'll die sooner, so work less. And they'll end up in nursing homes (and emergency rooms) with more health issues that cost us even more to take care of. Oh, wait, we don't want to take care of anyone at their end of life, as that's 'entitlement.' So I guess we'll just see people dying in the streets. Pleasant.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading your blog, but I think I'm done now. I personally like having a government that helps people. You seem to disagree, which you're obviously welcome to do on your own blog. Perhaps you should reconsider your career, though? Maybe try mail-order?
For the sake of mentioning, this is the first anon again--who is different from the second Anon.
I'm just gonna say, I don't know skinny kid, I don't know fat mom. I don't know you and you don't know me.
I agree with you that there are a lot of leeches to the system, and I agree that I'm not a pharmacist and this don't know all the purposes and uses of is "energy buzz" pill. But I think it's rude as hell to assume that he's "protecting his money". By your word, he didn't say "It's my money, mom, go away".. he didn't say "Mom, go make your own money" or anything like that. he said "we don't need no money"
Maybe I'm unique in that I've seen what a gambling addiction can do to people. Maybe I'm putting too much of my own experiences here. But I don't see a man so stupid as to charge money to his credit card. I see a man trying to fend off his mother's addiction. And that's a sad as hell place to be.
Anyway. Gonna second anon2 for a moment... You've been REALLY frustrated from what i've seen lately in your posts. At your company AND at the government. Maybe you should look and see if there are any other places where you can work in your area where you can escape from the worst "big brand" lameness.
In any event, This is your blog, of course, so please post what you want to. I'll still swing by and read. When I decide to stop, I'll do so silently. I just thought I"d offer my two cents and a slightly different viewpoint.
Thanks for sharing. Excellent post
Until you Anons have worked in retail pharmacy for over 20 years, you all need to give this RPh and all of us RPhs a break. We work 12-14 hour shifts with no break, on our feet , maybe some food, with people screaming at us to hurry hurry hurry. Oh, but don't kill us!
Yes, Medicaid abuse is REAL and COMMON. I see it day in, day out. For years and years.
And 2nd Anon, MediCARE pays for end of life care aka hospice care, not MediCAID. There is a difference.
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