Hillsborough County Republicans seek to deny AIDS patients access to the County’s Healthcare Plan
It’s more than obvious that Hillsborough County Commissioners Jim Norman and Ronda Storms are in the same fantasy world as George “Always Wrong” Bush. And just like Bush they promote fear, hate and intolerance. And just like “Always Wrong” Bush, they don’t look at the facts. They simply make them up to suit their own political ambitions. Just as they did this past week when Norman mistakenly said I had received services from Hillsborough County’s Healthcare plan to treat my HIV disease. I have never received services from the Healthcare Plan. In fact, all of my activities advocating for the Plan have been humanitarian and voluntary.
Since I have been an outspoken critic of their mismanagement and bungling of the healthcare plan, they’ve used my name and my HIV status as an excuse to consider denying people with HIV access to Hillsborough’s Healthcare Plan. Storms rationale is that people with HIV are “creating possibly more patients for us who might come under our care." That’s absurd and ill conceived. She goes on to say, "People who perpetrate those kinds of crimes ... ought to feel some sort of other ramification from their government if they are creating more difficulty for society as a whole." If these Commissioners are concerned about the additional burden to society for people who are HIV positive then they need to consider the cost of obesity to our society. Both Storms and Norman should also feel some sort of “ramification from their government” because their eating disorder is tantamount to criminal because they are purposely obese and with their image they encourage others to over eat, a behavior that is creating a health crisis of epidemic proportions. If we use their logic then we should ask the other County Commissioners to deny both Norman and Storms access to the county’s employee healthcare plan because their obesity and the illnesses attributed to it.
It’s no surprise Storms would make a disparaging remark about me because she is well known for her bigoted, intolerant and racist remarks. Who can forget her insult of African-Americans? She said, “We can get them through law school. ...we can't get them to seem to pass the Bar." And there’s her attack on immigrants accessing the healthcare plan, “if we continue we will have half of Texas and Mexico and the Philippines and everybody else here trying to get health care." How can Storms, a self-proclaimed Christian, consider denying immigrants and their children access to the county’s healthcare plan? She seems to forget that a large portion of her district is made up of immigrants who work hard in the fields picking strawberries, tomatoes, and oranges and with their earnings pay taxes. Yes, those immigrants also pay the half-cent sales tax, giving them every right to access the county’s healthcare plan.
Just like Jeb Bush’s inaccurate “list of felons” and John Ashcroft’s flawed “terrorist watch list,” the Republicans on the County Commission seek to create yet another list of people to deny them a basic human need. They want to limit access to the healthcare plan to those who are convicted of crimes. This is a classic Republican strategy to attack and deny basic needs to those groups that do not have the power to vote but still pay taxes. If I remember correctly, taxation without representation was the rallying cry of Americans in their quest for independence. And today it has also become a rallying cry to those who have been purposely disenfranchised from the right to vote and representation. Yet, these two commissioners are comfortable in denying healthcare not only to people who have served their time but also to people who are arrested and not convicted. That is simply un-American and violates the Constitutional guarantee of innocent until proven guilty.
It was these same commissioners who sat idle and did nothing when on April 4, 2001, a poor victimized woman, Angelica Stoylanovic went before the board of county commissioners begging for medical help. That help was denied and Angelica committed suicide less than three days after her plea. In fact, Storms noted that she was a convicted drug abuser. As if that justified denying her healthcare services.
Storms’ and Norman’s goal is to cut services to the needy. Their plan is nothing more than to dismantle the county’s healthcare plan creating higher costs because those rejected by the county’s healthcare plan would end up in emergency rooms, creating higher costs to taxpayers.
Both Storms and Norman claim to be Christian. Well those claims are nothing more than an illusion to hide the fact that they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Their motivation is about greed and self-promotion, characteristics that were shunned by Jesus. Would Jesus deny healthcare to people with HIV? Would Jesus deny healthcare to someone who is obese? Would Jesus deny healthcare to a cigarette smoker? Would Jesus deny healthcare to immigrants? Would Jesus deny healthcare to a convicted criminal? I don’t think so! In fact Jesus said, “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and… to release the oppressed.” (Luke 4:18) And since there are other members on the board who may share Storms’ and Norman’s beliefs to deny healthcare to those who have little or no representation they should heed the words of their “Lord.” I will be quick to testify against…those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice…, says the LORD Almighty." (Malachi 3:5)