Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.
One of the first signs Barb Carter’s move to Florida wasn’t the postcard life she’d envisioned was the armadillo infestation in her home that caused $9,000 in damages. Then came a hurricane, ever present feuding over politics, and an inability to find a doctor to remove a tumor from her liver.
After a year in the Sunshine State, Carter packed her car with whatever belongings she could fit and headed back to her home state of Kansas — selling her Florida home at a $40,000 loss and leaving behind the children and grandchildren she’d moved to be closer to.
“So many people ask, ‘Why would you move back to Kansas?’ I tell them all the same thing — you’ve got to take your vacation goggles off,” Carter said. “For me, it was very falsely promoted. Once living there, I thought, you know, this isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all.”
That’s the problem with decades of “fuck the poor” policies. Eventually, people will suddenly realize that they aren’t in fact, “temporary embarrassed millionaires.” They will find out that the policies they’ve been conned into supporting are specifically targeted at hurting them, and will drive them to utter destitution if not to the grave. The only good news is that these far right policies will do so much damage and cause so much pain that it will inevitably create the circumstances for its collapse.
Florida is on a Gilead speed run, I don’t predict good things will be happening there until they get their Christofascism problem under control.
she said the final straw was when she couldn’t find a surgeon to remove a 6-inch tumor from her liver that doctors warned could burst at any moment and lead to life-threatening sepsis. After being passed among doctors, she finally found one willing to remove the tumor. But when she called to schedule the surgery, her calls went unanswered and her messages weren’t returned. After months of trying and fearing for her life, she returned to Kansas to have the procedure done.
What’s with Orlando doctors? Is this sort of experience common there?
I had a family member go through 3 doctors and many months of unbearable pain in their leg, all saying it was a simple sports injury that’ll go away on its own, before someone realized they had a pool noodle sized tumor in their leg. I blame this incompetence for their death.
Oof, condolences
