US man stages $1 bank robbery to get state healthcare (2011) (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 months ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[-] creamlike504@jlai.lu 7 points 2 months ago

What he did was hand the clerk a note that said: "This is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar." Then, as he later told the local NBC news station, he calmly sat in the corner of the bank having told the clerk: "I'll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police."

...

He invited the paper to send a reporter to interview him in Gaston county jail, where he is now in custody facing charges of stealing from a person (for just $1 the prosecutors didn't think they could hold up a bank robbery charge).

He told the paper he had lost his job after 17 years as a Coca-Cola delivery man, and with it his health insurance. He was in increasing pain from slipped discs, arthritic joints, a gammy foot and a growth on his chest.

Since being in the jail he has attained his goal: he has been seen by nurses and an appointment with a doctor is booked.

[-] assembly@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Greatest country on earth!!!!

*terms and conditions apply

[-] oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago

**must be rich, white, straight and a man to have a chance to win

[-] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago

mostly rich though.

[-] workerONE@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Healthcare is such a basic human right. Single payer for all (Medicare) should be our priority. The wealthy look at everything as theirs. Anything that needs to be done in society is "why should I pay for that?" I have a friend who makes a lot of money and he said that people who work hard should be rewarded and I asked him if he meant people who work hard or if he meant people who earn a lot of money and he didn't know what to say.

[-] TwistedCister@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Why should the poor subsidize their income with our labor?

Edit for clarity: If the rich do not want to subsidize basic human rights then the poor should not subsidize the bank accounts of the wealthy.

I’m fucking poor bro. I’m not gonna ever be on team money.

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

Because they didn't choose to be born poor and probably work harder than you. Any other questions?

[-] TwistedCister@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

I don’t think my vibe came through. It’s a response to the friend you mentioned who doesn’t want to pay for healthcare.

“Why should we pay for their healthcare?”

Because it’s far more humane than the poor subsidizing the bank accounts of the mega rich with our labor and getting as little as possible in return.

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

Oh yeah, I definitely missed it. Thought you meant why are the poor getting things for "our labor"

I'm also not the one who mentioned the friend, but that's unimportant

[-] TwistedCister@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

I’m also not totally sober. Love you all.

[-] krawutzikaputzi@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Not on topic, just wanted to tell you that was one of the nicest conservations I've red online. Good on you for being so understanding and cute.

And coming from a country with universal healthcare it should totally be a human right everywhere. I hope one day the working class in the USA will win!

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Years ago, I have read that Mongolian street children in the capital, Ulan Bataar, would intentionally steal to get arrested so that they would have a warm place to stay during the cold nights in Mongolia.

America has now stooped this low.

[-] coffeetastesbadlikecoffee@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I always wondered why more homeless people didn't do this in the us

[-] Brandonazz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They do, but it has to be pretty serious because you are signing up to be tortured for an unspecified length of time as well.

Private healthcare and the punitive, draconian nature of our "legal system" work in tandem. If either were fixed then the other would lose their leverage.

[-] Trollception@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Yea... Why wouldn't someone want to be imprisoned, so strange

[-] seejur@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I mean, if the outside is absolutely freezing (and people have died of hypothermia already), and you have to rummage garbage bins for food, Why not?

[-] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

Some choose death over subjugation.

[-] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

The US treats its people worse than its prisoners. And I bet some idiots out there think it means they should start treating their prisoners worse.

[-] koper@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago

I get your point, but the US prison system is also really horrible. Healthcare is terrible and prisoners have a very high chance of dying from lack of proper treatment. Every year in prison lowers your life expectancy by two years (source).

[-] jadsel@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 months ago

Yep, and that applies even without any existing health concerns going in. Better hope you don't develop any while living under those conditions.

I'm T1 diabetic, and have an unfortunately reasonable expectation that even a week spent in jail back in the US could very easily turn into a death sentence. It does happen with depressing regularity. That's just looking at one very straightforward (and easily treatable) chronic condition, and a couple of fairly recent examples which have gotten more publicity than most such cases ever will. It's a mess.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth -1 points 2 months ago

Tbf that happens out of jail, too.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Unfortunately that is not even close to true. I get what you mean but prisons are . . . not great. People regularly die of neglect in jails. Prisons are slightly better than that, but it costs 50x more.

[-] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago

People regularly die of neglect out in the streets, where everyone can see them, as well.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Yes but “the streets” don’t have a legally mandated staff whose job it is to check on people.

[-] AJ1@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

again?

(2011)

... oh. um, ok

[-] Caffeinated_Sloth@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Still relevant 14 years later, just like the hit show at the time where a high school chemistry teacher cooks and sells meth to pay for his cancer treatments.

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Did anyone go "Wtf is wrong with the system" when that show came out? Because I don't remember that happening. Of course I'm from Europe lol

[-] Caffeinated_Sloth@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Everyone in the US who isn’t a finacial apex predator bitches about the medical system. The public murder of a medical insurance executive was a politically unifying event. Change is nearly impossible because we’re being held hostage by media, politicians, and giant corporations who profit from our current system and bitter partisanship.

this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025

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