Holly Benson: Poor have more time to run

Holly Benson, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, was interviewed on WFSU last week, with reporter Margie Menzel for Florida on the Line.

When asked whether the economic downturn would create a downward spiral on people's health, Benson said she disagreed.

"Just because you're poor doesn't mean you're unhealthy; it just means you have a lot more time to go running," Benson said. An edited version is here. (Thanks to Sticks of Fire, which first pointed out the comments.)

Later a caller, Michael in Alabama, called Benson's comment "low class." Benson  quickly apologized. "As soon as I said it, I regretted it," she said. "I meant there's no reason that anybody couldn't be healthy at any time." The full program is here.

Comments

Good thing she was at "Free Shoes University" radio station. Surely they can supply Holly with some running shoes she can stuff in her mouth.

[Crusader]

OK, she caught herself, let's move on.

A suggestion, if she's sincere about improving public health of the poor -- especially the working poor, who hold multiple jobs, have no health insurance.

Tackle childhood obesity.

Go get 'em, Holly.

right on Holly B

"Just because you're poor doesn't mean you're unhealthy, it just means you have a lot more time to go running," Benson said.

I wonder what she thinks about the darkies, jews, and fags?

If she is so interested in health, about about the health of the people who work in her agency?

Oops! She's not THAT interested!

Remember in November!!!

[JZ]

9:07 You can only help unhealthy people as much as they are willing to help themselves. At some point, those unhealthy people are going to have to make the conscious choice to lead a healthier life, rather than blame others for their condition.

Hamburgers are 99 cents. A pint of blueberries is four bucks. Poor people eat cheaper foods, which are higher in refined sugars and fats. Working poor people work two jobs and grab food on the run.

It's funny

So what… she was continuing with a line of questioning from the host (mostly related to programs to help people live a healthier lifestyle) and the comment was more related to people who were losing their job, not necessarily poor… so in that case they would have more time to jog.

What is the big deal? People get free healthcare paid for by taxpayers, and when someone suggests that they should take better care of themselves they are offended? That is absurd!!!

Great point 10:11!

who wears leather in their agency headshot?

so what, i'll bet she at least knows there's not 57 states

Holly rocks! She has committed the ultimate sin for a public official: she told an inconvenient truth. Good for her.

10:35 She has no clue how poor people in the real world live. When you are poor, you have two and three jobs to stay alive. There is no time for running. Your lucky if you have time to sleep. Start voting for real world people.

[terminator]

sounds like another solid Chuckles "the clown" Crist agency appointee.

Jesus H Christ, can this state get any dumber than it already is?

Time hit the nail on the head.

If I were the Russians, Floriduh would be the first place I'd nuke!

BANG-O-RANG, 10:47!

10:51 sounds like the dumb people that 10:47 wrote about. "BANG-O-RANG". How stupid is that?

8:23, the good secretary is a UF alumna.

terminator - you are a dumbass...

FREE HEALTH CARE! Most of us pay ALOT for our own healthcare. Those who don't should not have the right to be offended. Get over it!

11:26 – You are only partially right, not only are they not paying for their healthcare, WE ARE PAYING FOR THEIR HEALTHCARE! I say make the health ones jog.

That is suppose to be "...healthy ones jog."

Good golly Holly!

not the best thing to say, but everyone knows what it feels like to immediately regret saying something. benson does a good job.

[Annie Oakley]

LOL 10:19. Not just leather but leather and LACE..how cliche!
And soon, we'll all be putting more miles on our feet because we won't be able to fill up our gas tanks.

10:28 - Only Senior Management and SES don't pay for their health care. Most state employees do pay for their health care just like in the private sector.

Holly couldn't care less for the people in the agency who actually DO the work. She has contempt for those who aren't in her "social class."

All she does is send out uless e-mails addressed to "dear team." She isn't interested in the mission of the agency, couldn't care less that there are insufficient investigators to conduct surpise inspections of nursing homes (you'd be suprised yourself to know how your loved ones are treated in those places - and not pleasantly), and doesn't care that the agency has insufficient legal staff with adquate support to prosecute violators.

Oh well, as long as she can get a sound-bite or two!

Image over substance is the rule of the day.

6:13 - We are talking about Medicaid, not your state benefits. Get a clue. People on Medicaid do not pay for their healthcare... we the taxpayers do.

Holly couldn't care less for the people in the agency who actually DO the work. She has contempt for those who aren't in her "social class."

Wrong! I have seen her work very hard for her employees, especially the ones who do the menial work. Sure, she drops Dartmouth a bit frequently in conversation but she is, at heart, a geeky woman who enjoys and is talented at policy. She may be an appointtee but she has a huge amount of energy that she can bring to bear. I do not care to work for her but she IS good people.

Love it. This is what people in healthcare think, but don't have the guts to say. Next thing we know the state will be buying WIIs for these people who are living on the system. And they'll say something like they have a "right" to exercise like anyone else. Free WIIs for everyone.....

I agree with Holly. They also have more time to write the Great American Novel and solve Global Warming. Results expected any day now.

Agree with Holly.

that is AWESOME! I am going to tell that to the next bum who asks me for money- "Hey, at least you have time to workout! Me on the other hand, I barely have enough time to stuff my face with food!"

LOL- I love me some Holly- but that is TOO funny

Not that i disagree (there are far too many obese poor people), but this shows just how out of touch the political class is with the rest of society.

Holly has it right… once we kill all the fat, ugly, gay, old, black, hispanic, and unhealthy people… the US will belong to the rich, white, closet pervs!

Whoooo Hooooo!

Those who actually know and have worked with Holly Benson know she is a class act with integrity and a strong ethic of her own personal responsibility ... it is reflected in the fact that she accepted responsibility immediately for her comment and said it was mistaken. We can count on one hand the number of people in public life who would act with that degree of integrity ...

Holly is one of the friendliest people around state government- the people that are throwing knives on this board have obviously never met her. Do you ever say anything stupid?

It is not easy to be under the spotlight. If this is her worse gaffe, she will be great.

I guess we know what Holly's staff does all day!

Get a clue? Holly, as well as her predecessors, has - and had - so little knowledge of the Agency's workings, it's surpising any meaningful work is accomplished. Appoint someone from within the Agency - that knows its workings - and it may improve.

[work3jobs]

Already we see people who work three jobs who cannot afford steak, but people with EBT cards always buy them.

They buy steaks with EBT cards and then use their stash of cash to buy beer and the honest working schmucks have to eat beans and rice....that is the American injustice.

man you guys are slow, this is old news. how dated are the rest of the stories you blog about?

Typical snooty mind set.

This entry gives me new thanks that not every stupid thing I say ends up on a blog somewhere with 50 angry comments.

Just because you think it doesn't mean that you should say it Holly

[Bill]

Would I say something this stupid on air if I was a leading state health official? Only if I wanted to lose my job. Just because she is nice and everybody makes stupid jokes etc. doesn't make it better. Holly you'll have more time when you lose your job.
And it didn't make the mainstream news and it isn't old, only the mindset that produces such prejudice.

We live in the only country that I know of where the poorest people are the fattest. Call me a snob, but in many cases they are both for the same reason- laziness. I am neither poor or fat but could have been both based on family history.

[Concerned citizen]

Another case of media "Ambush Questions". Holly tried to answer the coniving reporter's seemingly innocent question, and she created a firestorm.
This is a lesson to everyone that may come into contact with the media. It's almost always better to say nothing!

[Adam]

A lot of "poor" people actually work multiple low-paying jobs, so they don't necessarily have more time to exercise.

Also, "poor" people tend to have health problems and to be nutrionally uneducation.

[local]

How did she get this position? Who's her daddy?

[J]

Medicaid is for children, parents of underage children, and the differently abled. I would be considered poor. I want health care, but have been denied because of pre-existing conditions. I asked the state for medicaid or medically needy and was denied because I make a few hundred dollars to much per year. Therefore, I would advise those who think medicaid is for the poor to actually look up medicaid before making comments on it. She should not have said what she did. Most of the people I know work several jobs and still try to execise, but it isn't always possible.

[Eric from Largo]

This idiot has to be a republican zombie w/little brains. Poor people suffer fro ma lot more than free time. We all know there's the free-loaders out there. But running? That's a callous statement. The first thing for the poor to overcome are the thoughts of desperation day in and day out. I was there once. Now I own my own house. If in the middle of the darkest days a person had said that to me, basically joking at my expense, or worse, actually serious-Holly would need dentures. The pit you feel you are in is dug by society, and faces you every day. And running? I have service connected hurts that make that impossible. It reminds me of Reagan opening the LA Times on national TV to the want adds and saying,'I don't know why so many Americans are out of works-and then flashing all the want ad pages. For the victims of layoffs or similar scorns, it used to take (2) years of solid hunting to find a job. Now I feel it takes three...if there's a job out there. Prices go up, wages stagnate, maybe even kids get a cold at school they bring home. I think Holly is s ditz. An agency head? I am amazed. Besides, you need good running shoes to avoid creating foot problems. Another isolated Floridian like Katherine Harris who makes [stupid] the state's official Word.

She made the comment in the context of a normally working person who is in transition. She realized that it might sound bad and made a correction.

While you blog, she is hard at work; you can bet on it.

Who is her daddy? She is very accomplished for a 36 year old. What have you done? How old are you?

[Lucy]

Would you people commenting PLEASE proofread your comments and learn how to spell. It hurts your credibility.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/04/obesity.paradox.ap/

She is a classic example of a modern-day paradox: as reliable access to healthy food declines, the likelihood of being overweight goes up.

The working poor like Caballero often have no time for cooking, little money to buy fresh vegetables, and a long walk to the closest supermarket with a good produce section.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115634907472843442-_xrNV2M1Pwf8pAcQYUWEBITP1LQ_20060901.html

Cheap Food, Societal Norms
And the Economics of Obesity

The WSJ asked academics Carol Graham, of the Brookings Institution, and Darius Lakdawalla, of the Rand Corp., to discuss their different economic takes on our burgeoning national girth.

SOMEONE has to work those 3 jobs.

I instead chose to work in high school and college so that I could work 1 well-paying job instead of 3.

If you are a Florida resident, and were in high school in 1997 or later and did not go to college.

Chances are you're as lazy as you are dumb.

The fact of the matter is, healthy food costs more. Fattening food is cheaper. But there's still that pesky point of exercise, which is free.

[Donald Lance]

She should try looking forward when she runs and not down at her $800 pair of shoes. That would keep her from running into that ugly tree she hit so often!

[Andronavtik]

Here is a complete description!
http://info-page.notlong.com

[Just some poor guy]

When poor people run (jog) down the street, they are stopped by police and beaten. I guess that would work as an appetite suppresant.

[Cady]

Let them eat cake. Poor people who'd have the motivation and energy to go running would be poor because they're working crappy part-time jobs with no benefits. Poor people who are poor because they're too lazy to work are too lazy to go running. Get a clue, lady.

Holly Benson is a two-faced b***ch who pretends to care about the people of Florida and the people who work in her agencies but she is only using this to further her political career. She is always hobnobbing with lobbyist and seems to always keep her boy-toys around who will jump when she asks (you will notice that if you ever see her around town). This comment betrayed her honest feelings. She cant be bothered by the plight of anyone but holly benson.

This is just one example of the profoundly unprofessional things that pour out of her mouth.

Cagate

DWE says he feels poorer after buying the new Thundercats sheets

Where was the poor people's motivation in high school? college?

any idiot in this state can get a degree.

Holly Benson needs to keep on apologizing.

The comment was so stupid that her job performance requires closer review.

[Fred]

Hey.......she is right on......I don't care what the economic condition is, you are personally responsible for your personal condition.....not the state...not the feds....not your church.....not your mom...noone but you, yourself, and your personal additude......

11:11 is responsible for being ignorant.

If you look at the dates of all of these blogs they all fall within the work week. Either you are blogging when you should be working or you don't have a job. Either way, the comments confirm to me why our state and country are in the shape they are, and it has nothing to do with politics...Think about it :)

is the term "jews" derogatory like darkies and fags? why look for the mote in holly's eye when there's aplnk in your own? or is this an example of the liberal antisemitic bias?

[Health Policy Analyst]

This kind of remark demoralizes the employees at the agency she heads. She clearly does not have the professional background and experience to be the Secretary at AHCA. The research literature is crystal clear that for the general population, life expectancy and the quality of one's health increases as income increases. One factor is that persons with low incomes experience greater levels of stress which damages health.