Florida ER: "Good Thing You Aren't a Teacher!"

I am writing this to you from the ER at my hospital in Central Florida. I had chest pains at 3am last night so decided not to take any chances. I was taken by a nurse, then poked, stabbed, and prodded, then back to my assigned room. (I'll be here overnight.) I was visited by a case worker, several nurses, a pharmacist, and of course, the bill collector. The bill collector was a nice, older lady that asked if I could pay all at once. I said yes. She told me it would be $100.00 with my insurance. Although I can afford it, I protested a little bit. I said it was $25 when I was here last (in 2001). She responded:

"Good thing you aren't a teacher."

I asked what she meant by that. She told me teachers now have to pay $300.00 JUST TO VISIT THE ER. A new teacher makes under $28,000 in Orange County, so I was surprised it was so much. I had chilling thoughts of young teachers bringing their children in and being forced to cough up so much just so their kids can be seen. I asked her how long has it been so high. She said matter-of-factly, "Just this year."

And then added, "Our new governor."

I started seething. Every day I am introduced to a way that teabag son-of-a-bitch is hurting people. It no doubt is contributing to my stress, which is probably why I'm here in the first place. But I couldn't resist. I blurted out how much of a bastard I think he is. She mumbled something about how he certainly doesn't seem to like teachers. I asked her what she tells teachers before she gives them the bill. Her response:

"At least you're not a firefighter."

She told me firefighters in the city have to pay $700 to be seen at the ER.

Teachers and firefighters are leeches in the eyes of our governor and his teabag cronies who run this state. This is ironic since the only ACTUAL leeches on the public dole are the governor and his teabag cronies: the ones who apparently get paid to hurt people, not help.

And these ACTUAL leeches don't see any problem with taxpayers being forced to give THEM sweet healthcare. Gov. Skeletor pays only $360 A YEAR for healthcare! That's less than any other government employee in the state, including his cleaning staff.

The FL teabag state legislators who rail against public servants and decry government "waste"?
They pay just $8.34 a month for healthcare!

No wonder my heart is giving out...