Americans outraged over praise of little boy's DIY walker: 'This is not awesome...It's a failure of our healthcare'
A little boy in Georgia gained nation-wide recognition on Tuesday when the media caught wind of some local Home Depot workers making a DIY walker for a 2-year-old in need. But just one day after news outlets began reporting on the “sweet” moment, Americans started responding with outrage over how the heartwarming story actually highlights the country’s healthcare and health insurance failures.
Logan Moore is unable to walk on his own because of a medical condition he has, called hypotonia, which affects muscle tone and stability. However, the family is currently dealing with the long process of trying to get their insurance company to approve a walker for the boy, forcing the father to look into other options.
According to a Facebook post by the Home Depot’s manager, the boy’s father, Justin Moore, had started looking online to figure out ways to create a walker out of PVC pipe. Instead of doing it himself, employees at a Home Depot helped to put one together at no cost to the family. And although Logan’s reaction to the new piece of equipment and the kindness of the Home Depot employees is sweet, many are saying the reason this happened at all isn’t.
Shaun King, an American writer and activist, was one of the first notable people to comment on how the story was poorly framed by outlets such as Fox 5 DC.
“Logan is awesome. This workers who did this are awesome,” King wrote in an Instagram post. “But that it came to this is not awesome at all. It’s a failure of our healthcare and health insurance industry.”
Hundreds of people responded to King’s post with similar thoughts.
“Seriously. Beautiful and generous but so freaking wrong,” one person commented. While another wrote, “We’re at a point where we can’t afford to help our children walk.”
Thousands of others also shared their reactions on Twitter.
this isn't awesome, Americans need healthcare not hardware
— acai berry pyramid scheme CC (@StrandThatRISP) May 29, 2019
This isn’t heartwarming. It’s an indictment of the US healthcare system.
— jay @DevOpsDaysTO 🇨🇦??🤘 (@jaydestro) May 29, 2019
Or the system is broken?
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 29, 2019
In the richest country in the world, disabled children have to rely on charity because for-profit insurance won’t pay for a walker?
This is not “AWESOME.”— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) May 29, 2019
Overall, people have agreed that the actions of the Home Depot employees are inspiring, while the story itself should be seen as a call for necessary change.
It's great that a Home Depot store stepped up and helped with the nightmare of a policy failure that is this family's story, but framing this as a win in any way is, at best, disingenuous journalism, and, at worst, straight propaganda.
— Amanda of House Stark (@HTLHellcat) May 29, 2019
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