Cape Girardeau man gets his opinion read on Limbaugh radio show

When William Piercey Sr. of Cape Girardeau submitted a guest column to the Southeast Missourian he wanted to voice his frustration with what government-run health care may resemble.

Little did he know talk show host Rush Limbaugh would read excerpts from the column on his national radio program.

"I've always had people respond here locally to items I've written in the newspaper. said Piercey, whose column appeared in the Nov. 11 edition of the Southeast Missourian. "But to write a hometown editorial and have it go national is surreal."

In his column, Piercey talked about an experience at his physician's office, where he wanted to receive an H1N1 vaccine. While the office had three available, Piercey was told he would have to first receive approval from the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

When he talked to health center officials, Piercey said he was denied approval because only pregnant women and children could receive the vaccine.

"Even though I'm a senior citizen at high risk because of numerous medical problems, I was denied," Piercey said. "Is this what health care is going to be like under our government in the future? I'm glad I was able to get that point across and have it noticed by Rush Limbaugh and other media outlets."

While Limbaugh was reading the editorial, Piercey received a call from Mark Reardon of KMOX radio station in St. Louis, requesting an interview later that afternoon.

"He asked if I knew the editorial was being read and I said no," Piercey said. "Mark told me that it was being read aloud now to a national audience. That was pretty amazing."

During the interview on the radio station Reardon asked Piercey for his reaction and what he believes about the current state of health care.

"You got some national publicity on this," Reardon said during the interview of the Mark Reardon Show. "That's got to be impressive."

In the next few days following Limbaugh's show, Piercey's name appeared on numerous Internet searches.

"It was strange typing in my name and seeing it there on national websites," Piercey said. "I don't know if I'll ever have an experience like this again, but hopefully others will have heard what I said and think more about this issue."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628