US man stages $1 bank robbery to get state healthcare (2011)

a year ago by cm0002 to c/nottheonion

Unemployed and without health insurance, man in North Carolina has himself arrested in order to receive treatment
creamlike504 176 points a year 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.

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Hexarei 7 points a year ago

Gaston County jail

So strange to see my home county mentioned on the Internet, had to double-take.

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assembly 146 points a year ago

Greatest country on earth!!!!

*terms and conditions apply

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oxysis 31 points a year ago

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

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gandalf_der_12te 24 points a year ago

mostly rich though.

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PostaL 3 points a year ago

Spoken in a sped-up voice

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Maeve 2 points a year ago
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workerONE 101 points a year 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.

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TwistedCister 20 points a year 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.

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pivot_root 12 points a year ago

I think we should be subsidizing people's poor reading comprehension.

Why should the poor subsidize their income with our labor?

the poor ... our = us
their = the rich

This commenter was asking for someone to try and justify why we (the working class) should have our labor contribute to the income of people whose existence is based on exploiting others. A perfectly reasonable question.

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TwistedCister 14 points a year ago

I could have used clearer language. It was just a misunderstanding.

Homie came to bat for the working man straight up. I can’t fault that ever.

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Transtronaut 2 points a year ago

Turns out you're so pro-poor, even your grammar is poor. :P

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boonhet 4 points a year ago

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

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TwistedCister 13 points a year 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.

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boonhet 9 points a year 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

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gandalf_der_12te 2 points a year ago

their income

whose income? the rich friend's income? or the people needing healthcare?

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Wilco 1 point a year ago

Sadly about 40-50% of the population are MAGA, which believe they are all temporarily inconvenienced billionaires. Any day now that MAGA person is going to get lots of money (probably the lottery) and they dont want the pay all those taxes ... so they sit in their trailer park with their MAGA hat and "Let's Go Brandon" bumper sticker just waiting to go vote how the billionaires of "team money" tell them to.

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yeahiknow3 4 points a year ago

With a few notable exceptions (such as medicine), the more financially rewarding the job, the less hard you have to work. In fact, that’s the whole point of getting a career! By cultivating some rare skillset, you can do less work for more money. People don’t go into finance or consulting to “work hard.”

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aeternum 2 points a year ago
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AJ1 56 points a year ago

again?

(2011)

... oh. um, ok

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Caffeinated_Sloth 54 points a year 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.

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boonhet 8 points a year 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

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krashmo 3 points a year ago

Nobody likes the system but it's all politicized in one way another depending on your preferred media bubble's spin method, just like anything else.

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Caffeinated_Sloth 3 points a year 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.

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deegeese 23 points a year ago

You used to be able to get health care by stealing $1, but now you have to kill an insurance CEO.

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homesweethomeMrL 10 points a year ago

Well, only if you’re going for style points.

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Susaga 3 points a year ago

It'd be hilarious if Luigi got healthcare because of that. Especially if it's with UHC.

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DaddleDew 52 points a year 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.

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koper 35 points a year 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).

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Maeve 4 points a year ago

Tbf that happens out of jail, too.

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jadsel 3 points a year 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.

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homesweethomeMrL 18 points a year 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.

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skulblaka 1 point a year ago

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

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homesweethomeMrL 3 points a year ago

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

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leftzero 3 points a year ago

The US treats its people worse than its prisoners.

And that's while treating their prisoners horribly.

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TankovayaDiviziya 19 points a year 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.

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coffeetastesbadlikecoffee 10 points a year ago

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

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Brandonazz 11 points a year ago
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Trollception 5 points a year ago

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

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seejur 3 points a year 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?

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Entertainmeonly 6 points a year ago

Some choose death over subjugation.

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Lemminary 10 points a year ago

I hear this has happened in Japan as well. Some elderly folks without family stage stickups for a good meal and a place to stay. What a fucking world we live in.

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5714 4 points a year ago

Creative debt bondage

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Susaga 2 points a year ago

This weirdly feels like it'd be a good movie, sort of like Dog Day Afternoon. "The One Dollar Bank Heist"

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grasshopper_mouse 1 point a year ago

Jail is basically my retirement plan if all else fails (and it probably will)

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jagged_circle 0 points a year ago

That must be a good State.

Most State prisons will torture and starve you until you die. You can buy food and soap at outrageous surcharges.

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altphoto -2 points a year ago

Dang George Carling looks fucked up! Ever since he died he hasn't said anything. Not one joke. Not even an utterance. A limerick about Jesus! Fuck no! No riddles or really cute stories about poo bear or the stupid train Thomas the dumbass. But seriously, if he was alive he would look just like that because of everything that's been happening. Reminds me of the "fucking dog" bit...thrown up on the counter with us asking for another god dammed Georgy.

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