Gold Card by Pat Conrad MD

Back in the days of wooden ships and iron men, the Royal Navy had a lot of ocean to cover and occasionally ran short on sailors. A favorite recruitment tool was to drop a coin in a tankard of ale which, when discovered in the bottom of the mug by lurking members of the press gang, was determined to be an implicit acceptance of employment by the poor sod holding the empty. He had in the parlance of the day, “taken the King’s coin” and was summarily hustled off to one of His Majesty’s ships for the duration. Over the years, the pewter ale mugs started being made with glass bottoms so that the discerning patron could examine his beverage before draining a potential contract. So it has been for centuries, that taking the king’s coin has impressed, even stolen many an otherwise happy life.

Forty-odd years ago, U.S. doctors betrayed their profession, and their patients by taking the king’s coin when they accepted the eventuality of government medicine in the form of Medicare and Medicaid. Men and women trained to deal in facts, statistical projections, and hard choices were unwilling to tell the nation what it needed to hear, and instead invited Uncle Sam into the exam room in exchange for what was then a nice chunk of cash. It was easier to do good for the elderly and the poor with someone else’s money, and to feel good about themselves for having done so. That mindset is now triumphant in Washington, D.C., by all respects now the capitol of the enemies of Americans and freedom. The Dear Leader and a Congressional majority desperately disdainful of its’ own rules and founding document are busy feeling really good about doing for some by stealing from others. They know, and yet do not care, that Medicare has not been financially solvent since 1972. These anti-Americans know that Medicaid is breaking numerous states, even as they plan to add millions more to the rolls. Obama and the Democrats know that they cannot provide good care for the entire population; the trick is to provide the illusion of care, “coverage” for all in order to build a permanent dependence in the numb-skulled minds of an increasingly benighted electorate. Republicans who rolled over for W.’s obscene bribery of seniors with promises of free drugs were deservedly stripped of power, and are now left on the ineffectual sidelines to watch the wreckage they helped sow.

A decade or more back, Medicaid recipients were issued gold cards that resemble credit cards. Anyone familiar with the ER environment has heard many times able-bodied, smiling beneficiaries in no distress exclaim as they check into the ER for a minor complaint, they “have the gold card” and that all is covered (without a thought to who is paying the tab). The other night, just after the Democrats increased nationalization of health care, I sat in a small town ER, talking with a lab technician, an x-ray technician, and a nurse. It was emblematic that the two patients in the ER were an elderly person who by age and ailment list would have long since run through any money that could have been contributed for her care during her lifetime; and a child whose parents spoke no English. I noted this as a microcosm of where we have come, four taxpayers at work, in part to pay for the care of two government patients. If you think this a harsh description, it is only because no doctor or politician has yet told you the truth. If you think I am being mean, then look at our deficit, the tax increases in this heinous bill, and the rising unemployment level.

Our x-ray tech laughed ruefully and exclaimed “We all have the gold card now.” I looked, and sadly, my coffee mug did not have a glass bottom.