Tuesday, March 31, 2020
His Doctor Ordered Him to Self-Isolate. He Didn’t. Now He’s Facing Criminal Charges.
by Jodi S. Cohen
5 hrs ago
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/his-doctor-ordered-him-to-self-isolate-he-didnt-now-hes-facing-criminal-charges/ar-BB11VGc2
In what may be the first case of its kind in Illinois, a man who walked into a busy gas station store after posting on Facebook that he had been ordered to self-isolate because of coronavirus symptoms now faces criminal charges of reckless conduct.
The 36-year-old man, who had stopped in the store so his 4-year-old son could use the bathroom, was recognized by an employee who had gone to high school with him and saw his social media post. After the man left, the employee alerted her supervisor, who then called authorities.
The incident at The Gas Station, a convenience store in Sainte Marie, a town of 250 people in southeastern Illinois, reflects the heightened anxieties about the coronavirus pandemic and attempts to halt its spread. Store employees and county officials said the man acted carelessly by ignoring medical advice and putting others at risk.
“That individual entered into a Jasper County business and was clearly not self-isolating,” Chad Miller, the state’s attorney in the county, said in a press release. Miller alleged that the man’s actions “showed a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.”
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But the man said he feels fine, stayed away from people at the store and is being unfairly singled out. If he can be charged with a crime, he warned, everyone else should be on alert that they could be next. He was not tested for the virus, he said.
“I feel like I am being railroaded over something and being made an example,” said Jason Liddle, of Olney. The state’s attorney did not identify him, but Liddle agreed to talk with ProPublica Illinois. Liddle said he learned of the misdemeanor charge against him on a community Facebook page Friday. He received official notice of the charge and a summons in the mail Monday.
The state’s attorney and county Health Department officials declined to comment through their offices.
As of Monday, Illinois had reported 5,057 known cases of COVID-19, including 73 deaths, spread over more than half of the state’s 102 counties. Nationwide, there have been about 159,000 known cases and more than 2,800 deaths.
The criminal charges come as Illinois remains under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order that has closed all schools, dine-in restaurants and nonessential businesses in an attempt to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Governors in at least 26 states have issued stay-at-home orders, affecting 229 million people, but enforcement of those orders has been sporadic. A New Jersey man who hosted a party at his home Friday night was issued two disorderly persons tickets, and in North Carolina, four men were arrested while protesting outside an abortion clinic. An Indiana man charged with drunken driving last week also was charged with disobeying the state’s stay-at-home order, and a California man was fined $1,000 for surfing in defiance of beach closures there.
The Jasper County case is different in that the man was not charged with violating the statewide shutdown order, which applies to everyone. Pritzker has previously acknowledged enforcement of the order is difficult and not “an option that anyone prefers.”
Nadav Shoked, a professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, likened the Jasper County case to those of people charged criminally with exposing others to HIV.
“This case is unique because it is a person not just violating the order and thereby endangering himself and us in general, but somebody arguably specifically endangering someone else,” Shoked said.
Constitutional law professor Steven Schwinn said state and local authorities have the power to enforce stay-at-home and self-isolation orders, though there are “practical impediments” to doing so.
“I don’t think anybody is really wildly excited about imposing a fine or some other criminal punishment for violating an isolation or quarantine order,” said Schwinn, who teaches at UIC John Marshall Law School.
“In a different situation, if we weren’t dealing with COVID-19 and someone walked into a convenience store with a cold and started coughing, could they be arrested? Maybe, but probably they wouldn’t be,” he said. “In this environment, yes, they probably can be.”
The Jasper County case began when Liddle, who lives in neighboring Richland County, posted on his Facebook page a note from a doctor stating he couldn’t go to work and had to stay home for 14 days, until April 5, because of “possible COVID 19 illness.”
Liddle said he was having chest pains and the doctor told him he couldn’t get tested for the novel coronavirus because the tests were being reserved for health officials and the elderly. There are no reported COVID-19 cases in Jasper or Richland counties, according to state health officials.
Three days after getting the isolation orders, on March 25, Liddle and his family were driving to his in-laws’ home, about 30 minutes away, when they stopped at The Gas Station so his son could use the bathroom. He said it was the only time he has left the house during his self-isolation.
“I took him to the restroom and took him out. I didn’t think anything of it,” Liddle said. “I didn’t get close to anyone, just my son.”
Ashton Osborne was working at the store when Liddle walked in, she said in an interview. She had recently seen his Facebook post with the doctor’s note.
“He knew coming out in public was not a good idea to do,” Osborne said. “So the moment I saw him,” she said, “I got hold of my boss and told her.”
Osborne said the gas station was the “busiest it had been in days.”
“We have elderly people who come in here. It is a small, homegrown town, and it is an old, old town with old people,” she said. “I have been checking my temperature every few hours just to make sure and if I see any signs myself I will stay home.”
That evening, The Gas Station posted on its Facebook page that it was “bleaching every surface” in the store and, without naming Liddle, called his behavior “absolutely unacceptable.”
Liddle, a satellite TV installer, said he obeyed the order by staying home from work during the isolation period. “I didn’t even realize there was a crime I was committing,” said Liddle, who says he has never previously been charged with a crime. “I am not out there robbing anyone or committing a crime. I get up every day and go to work — or I used to.”
He said his symptoms never worsened, and he feels confident he doesn’t have the virus. He said he doesn’t understand why he’s being charged.
“I am not trying to downplay the fact that this is something major. It is very concerning for a lot of people,” Liddle said. “I get that people are afraid, but I am not going to go out and willingly get people sick.”
Excerpts from court documents.
Liddle, who was charged Friday, has been ordered to appear in court in May, court records show.
If convicted, he could face a maximum fine of $2,500 and up to a year’s imprisonment.
The Jasper County state’s attorney’s office investigated the incident along with the county Health Department and contacted the man’s doctor, Miller said in the release. He also added that he is working with the county Health Department and local law enforcement “to monitor compliance with COVID-19 safety precautions.”
“I am not releasing this information in order to cause panic which is why names and locations have been excluded, however, I want Jasper County residents to know that public health is something I take very seriously and blatant acts of disregard for others safety will not be tolerated,” Miller wrote. “Stay safe, stay healthy, wash your hands, and [let’s] all continue to pray and care for each other.”
The Latest Relief Bill Is Not Enough to Save the States
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2020
CONTACT: Karen Conner, 202-281-4159, conner@cepr.net
Washington, DC ― Everyone is looking to see if the recent federal relief bills have something to help them. CEPR enlisted economist Max Sawicky to see if state and local governments will get what they need. In Save the States, published today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Sawicky concludes the relief falls short. That’s bad news for everyone because state and local governments deliver the public services that make daily living possible.
Sawicky explains, the delivery of state and local public services “really makes the difference between business as usual and heretofore unimaginable social breakdown.”
There are lessons we can learn from the current public health crisis and past downturns. Sawicky suggests that improvements should include “a well-designed formula” of federal grants to states and localities, which are automatically triggered by recession. “We shouldn’t wait for the next deluge of rain to fix the roof,” says Sawicky.
Saying Quiet Part Very Loud, Trump Admits "You'd Never Have a Republican Elected in This Country Again" If Voting Access Expanded
"This morning on live television, the president of the United States admitted he is opposed to laws that would make it easier for Americans to vote because that would hurt Republicans."
by
Jon Queally, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/saying-quiet-part-very-loud-trump-admits-youd-never-have-republican-elected-country
President Donald Trump on Monday came right out and admitted his Republican Party would soon be defunct if voting in the United States was easier in a way that allowed more citizens to vote in elections, telling a national television audience it was a good thing that Democratic proposals for increased voting protections and ballot access were left out of last week's coronavirus relief package.
The comment came during an interview with Fox & Friends, the president's go-to show for positive coverage.
"The things they had in there were crazy," Trump said of the voter protection and expansion proposals in the bill. "They had things—levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
Watch:
The remark—as many were quick to point out—is what's called "saying the quiet part loud."
"This morning on live television, the president of the United States admitted he is opposed to laws that would make it easier for Americans to vote because that would hurt Republicans," said Ellen Kurz, founder and board president of iVote, which seeks to expand voting rights for Americans.
As the Washignton Post's Aaron Blake noted:
Trump didn't expand on the thought. But he clearly linked high turnout to Republicans losing elections. The most generous reading of his comment is that he was referring to large-scale voter fraud resulting from the easier vote-by-mail options; Trump has in the past baselessly speculated about millions of fraudulent votes helping Democrats in the 2016 election. The more nefarious reading would be that allowing more people to participate in the process legally would hurt his party because there are more Democratic-leaning voters in the country.
That's apparently true, but you typically don’t see Republicans expressing the sentiment so directly. Generally, they'll connect tighter voting rules such as Voter ID to protecting the integrity of the process.
After progressive proposals to enhance voter protections and increased access were scrapped from the compromise bill that emerged from U.S. Senate—legislation that was ultimately signed by Trump on Friday—Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, called the shortcomings a major failing of the legislation.
"The coronavirus pandemic is a health and economic crisis," Waldman said. "The $2 trillion dollar stimulus will help soften its effects on the American people. However, Congress failed to include sufficient, urgently needed funds in the stimulus to help states run elections in a time of pandemic. This could wreak havoc in November."
"States simply will not have the resources so people can vote safely," he warned. "Congress must do better when it composes the next stimulus package."
While state election officials from both parties have made it clear they will need federal assistance in order to "hold a safe, fair, and secure November election under pandemic conditions," Waldman said failure to provide that support could prove disastrous.
"By our estimate, state and local officials need at least $2 billion to prepare, an amount that would cover the equipment, supplies, staffing, training, and the other costs of adapting our voting processes to withstand the coronavirus," he said. "That funding is not partisan and it is not a luxury. Time remains of the essence."
As Coronavirus Exposes Deep Flaws of For-Profit System, Biden Doubles Down on Opposition to Medicare for All
"This is a losing politics."
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
93 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/coronavirus-exposes-deep-flaws-profit-system-biden-doubles-down-opposition-medicare
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, told MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian Monday that he did not believe the U.S. needs a single-payer healthcare system, even in the face of the coronavirus outbreak that has already killed over 2,300 people in the country.
"Are you now reconsidering your position when it comes to single-payer healthcare?" asked Vossoughian.
"Single payer will not solve that at all," Biden replied, referring to the strained U.S. healthcare system.
The former vice president's rejection of Medicare for All in the midst of a global pandemic was not lost on observers.
"The primary voice speaking out against single-payer right now in the middle of an epidemic is Joe Biden," noted Dig Left researcher Andrew Perez.
Biden's remaining rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has made his outspoken support for Medicare for All a central plank of his campaign.
Critics of the former vice president bemoaned his "doubling down" on a position which seemed sure to result in electoral ruin.
"This is a losing politics," tweeted The Nation literary editor David Marcus. "In almost every state that's held a primary so far, including those Biden has won, exit polls show a majority of Democrats prefer single payer."
The question of whether the U.S. would be better suited to handle the crisis with a Medicare for All system has persisted throughout the coronavirus outbreak, which is expected to get worse and peak in the coming weeks and months. Progressives mourned a California teen who died last week, likely from the coronavirus, after being turned away from a hospital for a lack of insurance and questioned the viability and morality of a healthcare system where something like that could happen during a raging pandemic.
"How can anyone defend this system?" tweeted Claire Sandberg, the Sanders campaign's national organizing director. "Treatment must be free for all."
In addition to the California teen's death, progressives have cited mass layoffs and unemployment as a reason to transition to a healthcare access arrangement not dependent on one's employer providing health insurance.
As CNBC reported:
The coronavirus pandemic is likely to kick millions of Americans off their health insurance as the disease's economic toll sweeps through the nation.
In the U.S., health insurance is often tied to employment, and nearly 67 million Americans are working in jobs at high risk of layoffs, according to a Federal Reserve estimate. Weekly job losses surpassed three million last week, nearly five times the record from the 2008 recession.
Sanders on Monday at 7pm will host a virtual town hall on the pandemic, he told supporters in an email Monday afternoon. Joining the senator are Dr. Cornel West, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, and Sonia Shah, a science journalist and author of Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond.
'A Harrowing Warning' to All as Hungary Hands Far-Right Leader Dictatorial Powers Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
"We could have a parallel epidemic of authoritarian and repressive measures following close if not on the heels of a health epidemic."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
13 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/harrowing-warning-all-hungary-hands-far-right-leader-dictatorial-powers-amid
Human rights groups and activists issued dire warnings about the state of democracy in Hungary—and the rest of the world—after the nation's parliament on Monday approved a sweeping emergency law handing far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán dictatorial powers as the European country battles the coronavirus pandemic.
"Outrageous—and something we must all take as a harrowing warning," author and environmentalist Naomi Klein tweeted in response to the law, which does not contain a sunset clause.The new law indefinitely suspends elections and parliament, imposes up to five years in prison for anyone who intentionally spreads what the government classifies as misinformation, and gives Orbán the authority to suspend laws by decree as he works to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The law easily passed Hungary's parliament, which is dominated by Orbán's far-right Fidesz party, by a vote of 137 to 53.
Orbán insisted Monday that he "will give back all powers, without exception," when the coronavirus emergency subsides, but human rights groups warned that the prime minister could do incalculable damage with his virtually unlimited authority in the meantime—and may not give it up so easily when the crisis is over. Orbán has already used the COVID-19 pandemic, which has officially infected nearly 500 people in Hungary, to ramp up xenophobic attacks on migrants.
"This bill creates an indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency and give Viktor Orbán and his government carte blanche to restrict human rights," David Vig, Amnesty International's Hungary director, said in a statement Monday.
"During his years as prime minister, Viktor Orbán has overseen a rollback of human rights in Hungary, stoking up hostility towards marginalized groups, and attempting to muzzle Hungary's critical voices," added Vig. "Allowing his government to rule by decree is likely to speed this rollback."
Jacob Labendz, director of the Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies at Youngstown State University, tweeted that he is "terrified and deeply saddened for Hungary today."
"I worry for Roma, the Jewish community, the press, and a generation of young folks," Labendz said. "Please pay attention. I fear that this may spread within some of the [European Union]."
Hungary's parliament is not the first legislative body to hand its leader sweeping emergency powers as global coronavirus cases continue to rise. As the New York Times reported Monday:
In Britain, ministers have what a critic called "eye-watering" power to detain people and close borders. Israel's prime minister has shut down courts and begun an intrusive surveillance of citizens. Chile has sent the military to public squares once occupied by protesters. Bolivia has postponed elections.
In the United States, the Justice Department asked Congress for sweeping new powers, including a plan to eliminate legal protections for asylum seekers and detain people indefinitely without trial. After Republicans and Democrats balked, the department scaled back and submitted a more modest proposal.
Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, told the Times that governments often have a set of desired emergency powers "ready to go" in anticipation of an "opportunity" like a global pandemic.
"We could have a parallel epidemic of authoritarian and repressive measures following close if not on the heels of a health epidemic," Aolain warned.
In a column for Esquire Monday, Charles Pierce called Hungary "the canary in the coal mine when it comes to collapsing democracy."
"You'd have to be a fool or naive to trust Orban with anything more powerful than a butter knife. And, of course, he has a big fan in the White House," Pierce wrote. "So far, [the Trump] administration's response to the pandemic has been to bungle it, to profiteer as best it can, and to enact long-held conservative priorities as far as dismantling environmental and consumer protection."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted Monday that "throughout history, authoritarian leaders have used moments of crisis to seize unchecked power."
"Hungary's Orban is the latest example," said Sanders. "Now more than ever we must stand up for democracy and rule of law."
'The Strike Wave Is in Full Swing': Amazon, Whole Foods Workers Walk Off Job to Protest Unjust and Unsafe Labor Practices
"One of the best ways to thank essential workers is to support the fight to improve their lives."
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
22 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/strike-wave-full-swing-amazon-whole-foods-workers-walk-job-protest-unjust-and-unsafe
Labor rights advocates on Monday urged the public to show support and solidarity with Amazon employees who walked off the job at a Staten Island warehouse following what the workers said was an unacceptable response by the company to at least one case of coronavirus at the facility.
Employees at the warehouse, known as JFK8, walked off the job around 12:30 pm Monday, days after at least one case of coronavirus was reported at the facility. Christian Smalls, an employee who is organizing the strike, told CNN the number of employees who have tested positive for the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is actually between five and seven, though the company has only acknowledged one infection.
The workers are demanding that Amazon shut the warehouse down and ensure it is sanitized before requiring employees to work again.
"We're not asking for much," Smalls said. "We're asking the building to be closed and sanitized, and for us to be paid [during that process]."
By ignoring the threat of transmission to other workers, tweeted the grassroots group New York Communities for Change, "Amazon is putting profits over safety."
Amazon is allowing contract workers to apply for sick pay if they test positive for the coronavirus or need to self-quarantine due to exposure, but the company is not providing them with paid sick leave as a matter of policy. Employees who are able to get tested are required to report for work while they wait for their results—a process which can take days and thus could be exposing the warehouse's 5,000 workers, and anyone they interact with outside of work, to COVID-19.
Amazon facilities have quickly become "breeding grounds for this pandemic," Smalls said. As of Monday, the virus has infected more than 144,000 people in the U.S.—the most of any country in the world—including more than 60,000 in New York State.
"We know we're not alone at JFK8 and that conditions are similar in Amazon facilities everywhere," Phillip Ruiz, a warehouse employee, told New York Communities for Change. "Amazon's actions do not match their statements that they are prioritizing our health or the health of the public."
The JFK8 strike comes days after workers at an Amazon facility in Queens refused to work their night shift after a fellow employee tested positive. The action also coincided with a strike Monday by gig workers for the grocery delivery app Instacart who are demanding hazard pay, supplies including hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes, and paid sick leave for workers with health issues which could make the coronavirus more dangerous to them.
Advocates on social media urged consumers to support the Instacart and Amazon workers.
"The richest man in the world can't even provide basic protection for his workers during this pandemic crisis because it hurts his bottom line," tweeted New York Assembly member Ron T. Kim of Amazon's multi-billionaire CEO, Jeff Bezos. "I stand in solidarity with Amazon workers."
Vice on Monday reported that employees of Whole Foods—which is owned by Amazon—plan to call in sick Tuesday to demand paid sick leave for all workers who have to quarantine during the pandemic, free coronavirus testing for employees, and hazard pay.
"The strike wave is in full swing," tweeted Lauren Kaori Gurley of Vice.
Whole Foods has kept stores in a number of cities open even after reports that employees in the stores have tested positive for the coronavirus. The supermarket chain is offering paid sick leave only to workers who test positive for the respiratory illness, Vice reported—a policy which, as with Amazon, could expose many workers and shoppers to the virus.
"My doctor asked me to quarantine for two weeks and I haven't been able to get paid time off," one anonymous worker told Vice. "Whole Foods said we wouldn't get it unless we got a positive test. There are a lot of people in my situation who aren't receiving time off. It's hard to imagine that those who couldn't afford to do so would stay home. Whole Foods says if you're feeling better, you should come to work."
'Seize It': Progressives Urge Philadelphia City Govt. to Take Hahnemann Hospital After Owner Demands $1 Million a Month in Rent
"The city should reopen Hahnemann hospital immediately," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
12 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/seize-it-progressives-urge-philadelphia-city-govt-take-hahnemann-hospital-after
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday joined a rising chorus of progressives demanding the city of Philadelphia seize the shuttered 500-bed Hahnemann hospital from its owner, investment banker Joel Freedman, and reopen the facility to handle the coming peak infections of the coronavirus in the city.
"The city should reopen Hahnemann hospital immediately," Sanders said in a tweet Monday at midday.
Sanders, who supported efforts to stop the hospital's closure in July 2019, including rallying with the facility's supporters, was one of a growing number of advocates calling for the city to take matters into its own hands after Freedman refused to lease the building to the city for less than $1 million a month.
"Seize it," tweeted progressive radio host Benjamin Dixon.
On Sunday, Freedman's mansion in Philadelphia had "Joel Kills" and "Free Hahnemann" spray painted on its side.
Philadelphians were not sympathetic.
The push for using eminent domain to take the hospital and put it back online despite Freedman's demands gained a fan in normally-skepitcal-of-such-actions Esquire journalist Charlie Pierce.
"I am generally not a fan of eminent domain," Pierce wrote Monday, "but if there is a clearer case for it than this one, especially at this moment in time, I don't know what it would be."
'Abolish For-Profit Health Insurance': Analysis Warns Companies Could Hike Premiums by 40% Amid Pandemic
"Corporate-run health insurance isn't about saving lives. It's about making as much money as possible. With Medicare for All we can finally put an end to this international disgrace," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/abolish-profit-health-insurance-analysis-warns-companies-could-hike-premiums-40-amid
A new analysis warning that U.S. health insurance companies could hike already exorbitant premiums by 40 percent or more next year amid the coronavirus pandemic was received by Medicare for All advocates as further confirmation that America's healthcare system—driven first and foremost by the profit motive—is ill-equipped to provide necessary care for all, particularly in a time of nationwide crisis.
The research conducted by Covered California, the state insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, found (pdf) that "if carriers must recoup 2020 costs, price for the same level of costs next year, and protect their solvency, 2021 premium increases to individuals and employers from COVID-19 alone could range from 4 percent to more than 40 percent."
The health and economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak are "potentially staggering," the analysis states, and could result in even more "consumers and employers no longer being able to afford coverage, leading to employer groups dropping coverage or individuals deciding to go uninsured."
More than 80 million people in the U.S. are currently uninsured or underinsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and millions more are losing their employer-provided insurance as the jobless rate spikes due to the coronavirus crisis.
"The impact of COVID-19 will be significant, and... absent federal action, consumers, employers, and our entire healthcare system may be facing unforeseen costs that could exceed $251 billion," Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California said in a statement. "Consumers will feel these costs through higher out-of-pocket expenses and premiums, as well as the potential of employers dropping coverage or shifting more costs to employees."
"These increased costs could mean that many of the 170 million Americans in the commercial market may lose their coverage and go without needed care as we battle a global health crisis," Lee added. "These are not 'insurer' costs—these are costs directly borne by individual Americans."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose Medicare for All proposal would virtually eliminate private insurance in the U.S., tweeted in response to the Covered California study that "America's for-profit insurance industry is not compatible with healthcare as a human right."
"Now is not the time for greed," said Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "Now is the time for Medicare for All."
The new research comes as the coronavirus crisis continues to expose systemic flaws in America's fragmented and dysfunctional healthcare system. The Guardian reported last Thursday that as the virus has spread rapidly across the U.S., "private health insurance companies have lagged behind: making incremental changes to plans even as health providers seek to change course."
"They're doing healthcare to make money, not to take care of people," Dr. Judd Hollander, emergency medicine physician and associate dean at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, told The Guardian.
Last week, a 17-year-old boy in Los Angeles County died from complications believed to have been caused by COVID-19 after he was denied treatment at an urgent care center. The reason: he was uninsured.
"He didn't have insurance, so they did not treat him," said R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California.