Healthy population benefits us all
There is one basic issue of the health care debate I don’t hear in the public discussions. There is a lot of talk about the individual mandate and the relationship of the government to the individual. It is as if the provision of health care was all about the individual. I disagree.
The main reason a government would want its population to have universal health care is because it helps the country function better. Obviously, health care helps the individual function better, but that bleeding-heart compassion does not move the “Christian”-backed opponents. At least that demonstrates the separation of church and state in action.
The real reason for government intervention in health care is not even that supporting health makes the voters happy. There have been enough opponents of affordable health care to demonstrate that voters are afraid of the government playing a role in keeping them healthy and functioning.
It comes down to this: A healthy population is a productive population. Sick people do not work. Sick people, particularly those who cannot afford care, interfere with the productivity of those who love them. On a personal level, the survival of loved family members will generally trump a person’s devotion a company’s bottom line or a commitment to being a taxpayer.
If I’m lucky, I will not need cancer treatment. But I benefit by a fellow citizen getting that cancer treatment, or diabetes care or mental health medication. If they get the treatment they need, they are more productive workers. More than that, really, they are more productive citizens, parents, community supporters. I benefit from the increased functioning of others in my country, whether I meet them or not.
Health care treatment for “them” is not about them — it is about us.
Marti Stamper
Long Grove