Weighing in on the Health Care Crisis

More than we probably want to hear has been said about the government’s role regarding health care issues and spending—about 18% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product or over 36% of Federal Government revenues for 2011. What I want to address in this brief commentary is the individual person’s role in their own health issues and resultant health costs. I want to argue for personal responsibility and against entitlement in treatment or involvement in socialized medicine. I contend that it is morally wrong for me to be expected to pay for others’ gluttony, addictions, and generally poor food and health behavior choices.

Don’t misunderstand. I am not talking about unpreventable accidents, illnesses or conditions. I am not talking about little children’s health issues. I am not talking about a ‘good Samaritan’ situation where a victim is placed in our path and we have the moral responsibility to render immediate and temporary help.

I am talking about irresponsible teen-agers and adults and an overburdened health-care system that has to take care of smokers and drinkers with their cancers and cardio-vascular conditions, of drug addicts, of obese and overfat type-II diabetes patients (this condition was virtually unheard of 70 years ago before our population became so fat) and I am talking about those who find they cannot pay for treatment for their own self-induced ill health and who expect the ‘government’—actually meaning healthy and productive tax payers, to pick up the tab.

Just as automobile insurers raise their premium rates or won’t insure bad drivers, health-care insurance carriers—including government health insurance—should have steeply increased rates or refuse health care (except for cash paying patients) for those who smoke, are obese, or who have otherwise abused their bodies. Let these individuals face the consequences of their own poor choices. Having a healthy body is not an ‘inalienable right’ guaranteed by the Constitution.

I feel strongly that personal responsibility for one’s health choices could do much to lessen the burden on these people’s own pocketbook and the tax and health insurance bills of responsible people when others are irresponsible. It isn’t that people don’t know how to take care of themselves. We all learned how in school if we were paying attention. If we didn’t pay attention then, pay attention now:

Just following these four simple practices would save us billions upon billions of dollars and untold misery:

• Stop eating ‘fast-foods’ and junk food. (Tax these foods heavily as a deterrent for those who have poor self-control.) Some say that healthy food costs too much; the fact is that unhealthy food will end up costing the person much more.
• Cut back on food portion sizes and increase water consumption if one’s body mass index is higher than the acceptable range.
• Don’t smoke or take illegal drugs.
• Do some type of sustained physical exercise for at least 30-minutes per day.

People who have health problems or who are on the road to having preventable health issues who don’t take these measures are either lazy and indolent or are ignorant. Having not followed these simple guidelines will not be an acceptable response when the crisis comes.

We’ve got to get serious about getting healthy and staying healthy. Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and our country. Nearly fifty years ago a president of the United States said: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” (J.F.K.) What you can do is stay healthy. Those who aren’t serious are contributing in a big way to the downfall of this country. A sick populace is a sick country. The crisis is escalating.