The Republican dominated legislature of Arizona, along with the Governor , are proving the adage...The truth is stranger is stranger than fiction...armed with an admittedly skewed survey they unilaterally removed funding for those who had already received approval for transplant funding.
People who were told that they would soon be able to receive organ transplants were shocked when they were told that there was no money available in the till, shocked to realize that the Republican controlled Legislature had disallowed the expenditure of funds towards those who qualified under Arizona's version of Medicaid aka AHHCS (access).
These folks had already been approved for the procedures in question; all were waiting for a donor. Most knew that finding a donor can sometimes be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles, but they were hopeful nonetheless.
Francisco Felix is a man with Hep C who, in a cruel twist, located a liver from a relative who was a match, but since he was cut from funding, the liver he found was given to someone else. Removing those with Hepatitis C from financial assistance targets many of the poor, especially people of color who seem to make up an disproportionate number among those with Hepatitis C.
Another individual, Mark Price was the recipient of a gift from an anonymous angel who came forward to pay for the procedure, only to die just before the operation. He was next in line to receive a bone marrow transplant until he was removed from the list.
One, but not all, of the reasons given by Jan Brewster, is that receiving some cancer treatments fall into the "optional" category and that there is no guarantee that the treatment will succeed, somehow ignoring the irony that she and the legislature have guaranteed the efficacy of no transplant, death.
In this 21st century iteration of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the bankers are played by the Arizona Legislature and the Scrooge character by Jan Brewer; she of the "headless corpses" in the desert.
It is increasingly clear that the policies put in place in Arizona have the heaviest impact on those of us who cannot afford the thousands of dollars needed in order to receive the "greatest" health care in the world.
It should come as no surprise that the Republicans in power throughout the country will soon be emulating the tactics and policies in Arizona in order to balace their budgets. They have made it very clear that they are no friend to those in need, whether they be poor or middle class. They will attempt to balance budgets on the backs of those who can least afford it.
They know the poor and the sick have no advocates in the halls of Congress, no high priced lobbyists; they know that the media will only latch onto this story for only a few moments or until the next blonde goes missing.
They know that people would rather hear about the comings and goings of the half-term governor of Alaska and her brood, the next American Idol or which sub saharan country Angelina is going to adopt next.
It proves the old saying...the rich are different...
Eso es asÃ...
