USA Medical Coverage - Evil Hamster of the day

To me, the saddest thing about this story is that this has crossed my mind as a possibility!

No, I'm not in his situation, and I don't want to break the law, but I recently retired early from the sheriff department after 20 years and 20 above average evaluations. Ironically, I received the Sheriff's Medal of Merit a month before I got in trouble.

In 2010 I made a couple of bad decisions because of stress. Since the Correctional Mafia, I mean the politically connected powers that be, were in charge of my career at that point, my career went down hill like a titanic boulder, while they had smiles on there face. I will accept the ultimate blame and not hold ill will, except against a little bald headed Nazi-like little egomaniac punk sergeant, who I trained 13 years earlier, and made the mistake of letting this control freak off of training. All of this is my opinion only.

But I am sinking to a low level by writing this. To bring myself back up, I have to say that even during my worst times, and at the end, Sheriff Sniff, Lt. Pete Ortiz, Captain Hill, Chief Deputy Rick Hall and thousands, and I mean thousands, of others were there for me. The Riverside County Sheriff Department is an awesome family, with awesome people, doing a job day in and day out, that can bring the best of us to our knees. My honor and my oath is still with them, as is my prayers.

But here's the main point, before I lose your attention. For the State to issue me COBRA to continue medical coverage, I needed company authorization. Well, three months after leaving the depatrment I still had Riverside County saying it was the Law Enforcement Managment Unions responsibility, and I had the Law Enforcememnt Mamnagement Union saying it was the Riverside County Sheriff's Associations Responsibility, and so on the circle went. I never did receive the cobra coverage, and when someone with the county came to their senses in April or May, it would have cost me almost $10,000 to get back with Kaiser Permanente Medical Coverage. Now.........if this can happen to a married man with no criminal history, who worked non-stop for the last 29 years with medical coverage and has a family.............keep that in mind while you read this article from the Gaston Gazzette and yahoo! Yeah, I know the guy looks like a lunatic.....but try and ignore that too LOL

Man robs bank to get medical care in jail

Some people who need medical care but can't afford it go to the emergency room. Others just hope they'll get better. James Richard Verone robbed a bank.

Earlier this month, Verone (pictured), a 59-year-old convenience store clerk, walked into a Gaston, N.C., bank and handed the cashier a note demanding $1 and medical attention. Then he waited calmly for police to show up.

He's now in jail and has an appointment with a doctor this week.

Verone's problems started when he lost the job he'd held for 17 years as a Coca Cola deliveryman, amid the economic downturn. He found new work driving a truck, but it didn't last. Eventually, he took a part-time position at the convenience store.

But Verone's body wasn't up to it. The bending and lifting made his back ache. He had problems with his left foot, making him limp. He also suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis.

Then he noticed a protrusion on his chest. "The pain was beyond the tolerance that I could accept," Verone told the Gaston Gazette. "I kind of hit a brick wall with everything."

Verone knew he needed help--and he didn't want to be a burden on his sister and brothers. He applied for food stamps, but they weren't enough either.

So he hatched a plan. On June 9, he woke up, showered, ironed his shirt. He mailed a letter to the Gazette, listing the return address as the Gaston County Jail.

"When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me," Verone wrote in the letter. "This robbery is being committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body."

Then Verone hailed a cab to take him to the RBC Bank. Inside, he handed the teller his $1 robbery demand.

"I didn't have any fears," said Verone. "I told the teller that I would sit over here and wait for police."

The teller was so frightened that she had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out. Verone, meanwhile, was taken to jail, just as he'd planned it.

Because he only asked for $1, Verone was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn't severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he'll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn't plan to pay it.

In jail, Verone said he skips dinner to avoid too much contact with the other inmates. He's already seen some nurses and is scheduled to see a doctor on Friday. He said he's hoping to receive back and foot surgery, and get the protrusion on his chest treated. Then he plans to spend a few years in jail, before getting out in time to collect Social Security and move to the beach.

Verone also presented the view that if the United States had a health-care system which offered people more government support, he wouldn't have had to make the choice he did.

"If you don't have your health you don't have anything," Verone said.

The Affordable Care Act, President Obama's health-care overhaul passed by Congress last year, was designed to make it easier for Americans in situations like Verone's to get health insurance. But most of its provisions don't go into effect until 2014.

As it is, Verone said he thinks he chose the best of a bunch of bad options. "I picked jail."

(Photo: Ben Goff/The Gaston Gazette)