Healthcare opponent punches 65-year-old supporter

Healthcare opponent punches 65-year-old supporter

For political drama, there's always Florida.

A 65-year-old man cheering healthcare reform in Miami was punched in the face and knocked to the ground by an opponent of a public health plan, according to a reporter at the scene. The rally took place outside a Great Miami Chamber of Commerce event where Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL - below right) was speaking.

"Luis Perrero of Coral Gables was standing among about 40 Democratic activists and union workers when a man in a Ford pick-up truck pulled up to the rally at Jungle Island and began arguing with the crowd," the Herald's Tolouse Oloronippa blogged Wednesday. "The man, who only gave his first name as Raul, said Perrero called him a Spanish curse word. He punched Perrero in the face. Perrero fell to the ground and lay motionless for a few minutes."

"I'm amazed the way this has become such a politicized issue,'' Perrero told Oloronippa. "It shows that people who are against the public option will resort to anything, including battery on a senior citizen to prevent healthcare reform.''

"It was totally uncalled for," Wilhelmina Ford, another public healthcare supporter quipped. "The guy may have had words with him but he didn't have to hit him in the face.''
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Healthcare opponent punches 65 year-old supporter

What is this really all about? Is it that the people, like this man accused of punching out a senior citizen, doesn't really care about anyone but themselves, or is it a matter of something much more sinister at work here?

This is not a matter of facts fueling opinions. This is more a matter of them being formed from obvious lies. So who is behind them? PR firms paid to make sure the giants get their bounty? Politicians motivated to put the interests of companies ahead of people? Not really sure but it's becoming more clear it's business fueling all of this.

When you think about the basis for the lies,they are all personal ones and intended to get passions pumping, and not in a good way. Veterans are used. The elderly are used. Both groups, sensitive subjects in any debate, but both groups also end up with "socialized" medical care. Last time I checked the VA and Medicare were government health. But even with that, both groups are the targets of these emails filled with lies. Then people screaming at these town halls end up saying they don't want government involved in their healthcare, but they never seem to hear that it would be an added option and not forced for all, plus they ignore the fact they could have a veteran or a senior citizen sitting right next to them using the VA or Medicare, feeling as if they've just been slammed.

They say that they work for their healthcare but they never seem to stop and think they have no control over if they even have a job or not and could lose it like so many others over the last couple of years. What will they use for healthcare then? What if they end up with a pre-existing medical condition, like so many other people getting older and a bit grayer, but not in the elderly category? Right now they only see what they have but don't seem to understand what they have to give up to have it, like pay raises because their company has to pay more to cover them and their own portion of the premium has gone up, meaning they have less money to take home. Ever wonder what that kind of money could do to the economy if it was put back into it instead of the insurance companies hands?

Everyone has some kind of an agenda but when it comes to changes in healthcare, the only ones that can gain anything are in the healthcare industry, and not the doctors and nurses we count on everyday for delivering it.