Something for Nothing

This week a 47 year old female came to see me in the office. She weighs 275 pounds and she came to see me for a minor problem. I looked at her insurance information and was surprised to see she had medicare. For those of you who don't know medicare is not only for the elderly but it also is given to people who qualify for permanent disability. Aside from her weight she did not appear to be someone who is completely disabled so I asked her the nature of her disability. She explained she tore something in her knee which was repaired and thus she was placed on permanent disability. As a result she receives medicare and disability payments from the government forever. She then proceeded to leave the office walking without difficulty.

There is no reason why this lady should qualify for disability especially because her knee problem was likely caused by her own self inflicted obesity. There is no doubt in my mind this woman is completely capable of some type of employment but it is much better for her to collect disability than to get a job. I wouldn't even be surprised if she does have a job that pays her under the table and thus does not get reported and effect her eligibility for disability. Basically she is gaming the system at the expense of the taxpayer.

This is what tends to happen when government takes control and offers free services. What I call the something for nothing crowd finds ways of gaming the system to get freebies and benefits that they are not truly entitled to. So even though the government may be well intentioned in trying to assist the poor and disabled when people see the government giving out money, they line up. The government does not do a good job at policing who gets the benefits and is truly qualified or if they are just cheating. They just keep doling out freebies and continue doing what they are good at which is taxing and borrowing. It is government's duty that if they are going to confiscate my money and my kids and grandchildren's future earnings through taxation and borrowing to give to someone else they better be darn sure that person is truly deserving of it.

In general, the government is not good at policing fraud and abuse in their welfare programs and this is seen in the medicare program where estimates are as high as 10%. It is not surprising since government believes it has no limit on its spending and little incentive to cut the fraud. They'll just keep sucking the blood from the taxpayer. The truth is, the present government probably couldn't care less whether there is fraud because ultimately there goal is to redistribute wealth from the taxpayer to the non taxpayer. Whether this is done honestly or through fraud doesn't matter as long as the ultimate goal is achieved.

There is a segment of the population in this country who try to live off the benevolent nature of the government. They justify in their minds that they are somehow entitled to these benefits and do not see themselves as cheaters, thieves, and parasites. They don't see that they are in effect taking money from someone else unfairly because government is in the middle taking the money through taxes and then giving it to them. I do not know if this exists in other countries but my feeling is this is much more prevalent in this country. As government expands expect the something for nothing crowd to be lining up.