"You seem to understand my point then... if the poor are\were white the same issues would be observed."
YES, I agree!

as to your work experience--in all the years I was a medical social worker, I never came across examples such as yours--wow!! it's too bad people have such attitudes!! great that you pointed out to them that cancer doesn't care how much money you have in the bank!

I worked as a hospice social worker for 6 years, and didn't encounter such attitude--but then, I was assigned to work with people in the area I lived in so I didn't have to commute so far to visit them, and since I lived in a middle class neighborhood, I was assigned primarily middle class patients! also had many years of working with the poor in hospitals and clinics that were Medicare and Medi-Cal funded, so didn't see any snobbery there, either.

as to social settings, I've never seen it either!! I've never been to a party or event where there were wealthy people present, so I've never seen "attitude" like you're talking about! my personal friends all range from upper middle class to poor and as I said, my family is diverse, going from well-healed to poor, and I do mean poor--where the person relies on family for assistance--I fell into this category myself for a period of time, and it's the first time in my life I had to worry about money--it was horrible--made it all the more clear to me that the poor in this country suffer unjustly just by being poor! I was very fortunate, though, as I had family that took me and my two children in and provided for us...if my family hadn't been in a situation to afford to help me or if we had been estranged, my kids and I would have been out in the street.

I can imagine, though, that the wealthy may expect more privilages since they have greater access to better health care, and expect more from the health care system than people who have less money/not as good health insurance/no health insurance. I can imagine that in general, the wealthy expect more in all areas of their lives, because they can pay for it. Our society in general seems to venerate the wealthy just because they are wealthy, as if it bestows upon the person some "higher order" of being. They get more respect, more privilages, more adulation, etc, than someone with less money. They are seen as having more "value" in our society as human beings than someone who is poor.

as far as I'm concerned, God doesn't care if you're rich or you're poor, we are all the same in God's eyes. I try and have the same attitude. I have no problems with the poor, for as I said, I was one of them once, and have friends that definitely fall into that category. If I ever encounter a wealthy, and I mean wealthy person, I hope to not be "ga-ga" over them and act as though they deserve to have their hinies kissed, like some of us do over celebrities, but to act towards them as if they are "regular people", for they are!

blessings, Liora