Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, September 27, 2007 7:07:22 PM
One reason why health care should be privately funded is the wide variety of personal habits and lifestyles Americans have chosen. For example - some people are teetotalers, other people are raging drunkards, and there are a whole lot of people in between. Why should a teetotaler be forced to pay for a liver transplant for a drunkard? I'm no teetotaler, but I've never been drunk in my life. Why should I get the bill for health problems caused from repeated alcohol abuse?
I should have the option of choosing a doctor, hospital, and medical insurance company that will not pass along the costs to me that were incurred by of people I believe to be living unhealthy lifestyles. I’m a meat eater. I’m sure there are vegetarians who think I’m killing myself with the meat I eat. Why should they pay for my health care if a clog my arteries with animal fat?
I do believe in responsible charity, and if I was allowed to keep more of the money I earn because it wasn’t being redistributed by people I don’t know to other people I don’t know, I would gladly pass along some that “extra” money to a medical charity that treats those who can’t otherwise afford treatment…one that would encourage them to live healthy lifestyles.
The more government-controlled funding there is in health care, the more likely we are to have government officials imposing restrictions on our personal lives to get us to be “healthy” in order to keep demand and costs down.
There are many choices we have can affect our health and whether or not we’re more likely to suffer from certain injuries or diseases:
Our exercise routines
Our diets
Whether or not we have eating disorders
Participation in extreme sports
Where we live
Camping/hiking
What kind of vehicle we drive and how much we drive
Where we travel
Whether we smoke, what we smoke, and how much of it we smoke
Whether we drink, what we drink, how much of it we drink
What other kinds of medicines or drugs we use/abuse
Who we have sex with and whether or not we use protection or contraception
Whether or not we have kids
How much we weight and how much of that is fat
Whether or not we accept or have ever received a blood transfusion
Many of these involve religious practices that are deeply ingrained in some people. Do we really want to give the government/people we don’t know more of an opening to control these things in our own lives? The more we rely on “someone else” to pay for our health care, the more likely that is.