A Postal Worker Was Fired for Throwing Away Mail About Obamacare

A postal worker in Fresno, California was fired last week for disposing of Obamacare literature. Local television station KMPH-26 reported the mailman's firing last Monday. He was not identified, which is probably the sweetest mercy he could be afforded by the media.

A witness to the incident, Jerry Dillis, found the postal worker's actions appalling. The Denver Channel said Jerry told reporters, “He just kept glancing over his shoulder over and over again. It was like he knew what he was doing was wrong. It was just amazing, I looked down in there and there was a bunch of people’s addresses and right away… I knew this was absolutely wrong.”

Gus Ruiz, a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service, claimed that the former employee, “was running late and wanted to get back to the post office on time.” Being late seemed like a terrible excuse to throw away mail, even if it's the sort of junk mail that most people throw away. Unfortunately for the former mailman, his infraction came at a time when the federal government was struggling to overcome polls suggesting the public has a disturbing lack of understanding of the Affordable Care Act. In an August field poll conducted by the California news website the Press Enterprise, 57 percent of California voters agreed with the false statistic that Obamacare would cut senior citizen's Medicare benefits. A postal worker tossing pamphlets certainly didn't help the public's misunderstanding of the law.

No media outlet claimed the postal worker threw away the pamphlets for political reasons, but it was not outside the realm of possibility. Fresno is one of the rare red counties in the sea of electoral blue known as California. Fresno's current mayor, Ashley Swearengin, is a prototypical pro-business Republican. The platform for her 2012 reelection campaign featured a heavy emphasis on the government cuts and pro-business tax incentives that the national GOP is trying to institute in Congress. In a city where the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 12.5 percent unemployment in July 2013, Ashley ran promising to cut the number of city employees by 20 percent. These policies won her 75 percent of the electorate and led her to a landslide victory in 2012, according to statistics released by the County of Fresno's County Registrar of Voters.

This conservative philosophy didn't pay dividends for Fresno's economy. The housing bubble hit Fresno more than other cities, and the city struggled severely after the recession. On October 10, the Fresno Bee reported the city can't afford necessary improvements to its public transportation infrastructure. The furloughs of government workers further slowed the already tepid recovery in the primarily rural area. Veterans and government workers are struggling to pay bills, and the employees are resorting to selling off property to raise money during the shutdown, according to the Fresno Bee.

When Obamacare launched, Fresno saw less interest in Obamacare than other parts of California. 45,000 citizens of Fresno County are eligible for coverage under California's Medi-Cal health plan for low-income individuals, which the Affordable Care Act expands. On October 1, the Fresno Bee reported that the number of people inquiring about health care at their local Department of Social Services was small.

The postal worker who threw those mailers away denied Fresno's citizens the opportunity to make an informed decision. As long as they lack the knowledge to choose, their community will likely continue to suffer.

@dave_schilling

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