Being Good Parents, or Abusing the System

There is an amazing story on CNN.com of a little boy, 6 months old, who will receive surgery to essentially give him an immune system. It is a rare disease that few know exists, but when your baby is born with it, you learn about it very quickly. The baby was born with complications, and at 2 ½ weeks old, had heart surgery. It was soon after that that the doctors diagnosed this little bundle of joy Seth with the disease. Seth is covered under Indiana’s Medicaid plan. Most Medicaid plans do not cover experimental surgery’s. Unfortunately, this disease is so rare, that few studies have been done. The good news is there is one doctor in the United States that created a surgery that would allow Seth to have the much needed Immune System. Medicaid would not cover it. The surgery is considered experimental. Only after Seth’s story made head line news did the state of Indiana repeal their decision to cover the cost of surgery, estimated between $350,000 and $500,000. Seth’s family had already started asking for donations as soon as they had been denied covered the first time, and when the news came in that the state would cover the expense, the family immediately told reporters that the estimated $150,000 they had received in donations would be donated to a foundation to fight for the procedure to be deemed “non-experimental”. I think this is a great way to handle a situation. The people that donated all that money believed that money would be going to save the life of Seth. The family would be unethical in my mind to keep the money. I would not care if the money still went to Seth, even for a college fund, that money was not intended for that purpose. I have known a family, whose son was born with cerebral palsy. The child was covered under Minnesota Care for no cost to the family. I would say 90% of the child’s medical bills are covered under that plan. Children’s Miracle Network stepped in and helped the family pay other bills that were incurred because of the child. They helped the family with gas, food vouchers, and numerous other donations. I have no problems with any of this. The problem that I have with this particular family is that since that child was born, they have decided to hold a benefit, to help raise money to build a new home. This family also believes that everything concerning this child should be paid for, including diapers, clothes, food, and toys.
My problem is simple: if you plan to have a child, there will be expenses, whether that child is born healthy or unhealthy. I understand needing extra help with medical bills, no one can or should plan for their baby to have so many problems, but come on! Either way, you better be able to put a diaper on that babies butt without relying on hand-outs from the local community.