I try to remind my friends not to say things like, “he was shot in the chest,” in front of my small kids, but it happens. It’s a bit of joke now within the family that we can’t spell out words like s.h.o.t. anymore. When we attempt it, our 6-year old simply yells out, “SHOT!”
So, at the neighbor’s house yesterday, she pulls me over to the computer. She explains that one of her co-workers was shot in the chest on the weekend during a robbery and is in intensive care. She was mad as hell at her boss who knew about it the next day. He did not tell the other workers until their shift was finished. It was a productivity issue for him, I guess.
My neighbor showed me the article online. It was pretty standard reporting for a capitalist newspaper, although she was mad that it said that the police were still looking for a motive. It happened at 1AM on the street.
He is still alive. They are trying to save his life at Stanford University Hospital. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have health insurance,” she paused to think. I remembered her telling me that the upscale restaurant where she worked had held a meeting 3 years ago and announced that they would no longer pay for people’s healthcare. This was part of a general trend of bosses dropping health benefits for workers in non-union workplaces. Tens of millions of workers lost their coverage.
The victim is a server, what we used to call a waiter. He is single. He is buying a house. He most likely has no health insurance. When he gets out of hospital, this robbery, a punishment for not being able to afford to live in more affluent neighborhood, may have cost him his home too. His home will probably not cover his healthcare costs.
The headline in the newspaper should've read: "Worker shot, may lose home ." That's the real story.
Give us healthcare as good as Congress gives itself!
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