Talk about a cruel government.
Tobacco use is an addiction.
Are they refusing to operate on alcoholics, cocaine addicts, heroin addicts.... coffee drinkers?
Wow! no appendectomies for the obese.
No gall bladder surgery for the smoker.
People dying of medieval illness.
My daughter works in the Emergency Room at a local hospital during the Power shift (11:00pm to 6:00 AM).
They refer to the heroin addicts as “Frequent Flyers”. The staff sees a lot of the same faces over and over.
They don’t hold back any care. When they OD and come out of it through the use of Narcan, they often soil themselves. Often they come in soiled already, unconscious.
They usually are given access to a shower & toiletries to clean themselves up, given a meal, provided fresh clothes from donated collections or their existing clothes are washed for them. When released, the are given rides via taxi or Lyft to their destination (wherever they call home). No one ever pays anything.
No one in this hospital (or others in the city) is ever denied any services regardless of their circumstance or ability to pay. Lack of Health Insurance does not equate to lack of Health Care.