The underlying assumption in the national debate on health care is that everyone needs health insurance because sooner or later, everyone needs health care. Even if we personally don’t need health care, we are supporting those who do.
But what of those people who don’t believe they need health insurance because they don’t need health care? In a recent article in the Contra Costa Times, a Danville couple maintains they don’t need insurance because hey, they’re healthy. In the past five years, Lori and Gordon Townsend haven’t seen a doctor, and they see no reason why they should support people who do:
Gordon says he lost 30 pounds and brought down his blood pressure by using the nutritional supplements he now sells. Lori says she lost 25 pounds and solved her thyroid problems.
The couple said they see no reason why they should have to subsidize people who are obese, are chain smokers or who make other bad health decisions.
“People expect that they have a right to health care in the form of subsidized medical services, but they need to perceive that they have a personal responsibility to control their own portion of that cost,” Gordon said.
What about those people who make the bad health decisions to get injured or get cancer? What if that happens to them? “We’re going to play the odds and not focus on that,” he said. “We’ve simply decided to accept that risk, because it’s minor.”
So there you go. Health insurance, and by extension health care, is for the fatties and the smokers. By losing weight, they’ve inoculated themselves against injury and disease. And the risk of cancer or other chronic illness? By accepting the risk, do they also plan to go bankrupt to provide their own care? Do they plan to forgo health care if they can’t afford it? Or will they ask all of the irresponsible fatties and smokers and others who make bad health decisions to help them when times are tough? Maybe they’ll just take more of those nutritional supplements that they sell.
Losing weight can improve many people’s health.
But weight loss is not a magic bullet. Yes, fat people will get sick and die. But so will thin people. More smokers get lung cancer than non-smokers, but non-smokers get lung cancer, too. Certainly, we should do everything we can to be and stay healthy. But let’s not delude ourselves that misfortune is reserved for those who make “bad health decisions.”
And let’s not blame people who get sick or develop chronic conditions. We are all fallible humans and we will all die one day. And as human beings, we should support one another, if for no other reason than because we’ll need that support, too.
