Mary Jo Sminkey wrote: >> I would MUCH rather see my tax money spent helping people quit smoking >> and be healthier than fixing them after a life of self destructive behavior. >> > > You do realize that being able to get preventative care is essential to such > things, and to help people lead healthier lives? What if everyone had access > to health insurance that included wellness visits, and weight loss management > programs, smoking cessation, etc.? If people could get psychiatric help when > they need it (depression being a very common cause for over-eating)? It's > very easy to blame people for their health issues, but relatively few would > choose to have them if they really felt they could afford help. I used to go > to the doctor regularly for checkups and to have various blood levels > checked. Now I know that because of my deductible, those costs will come > completely out-of-pocket, so I tend to skip it unless some other problem hits > and I know I'm already over the deductible limit. Maybe not a smart thing to > do...but that's what people do when it's not a covered benefit. > > The problem is that we do not consider healthcare to be a human or civil > right, but a commodity. And one that we want to parcel out only to those that > we think deserve it...or can pay for it. Kind of like welfare. A lot of > people would like to get rid of it because some people abuse the > system...even though many poor families would suffer greatly otherwise. >
I guess I wasn't specific enough, but preventive care and wellness is exactly what I was talking about. It's far cheaper too. For example - what ever happened to the physical fitness tests and programs in schools? Am I remembering correctly that they have been partially or totally eliminated in some areas? Some studies show that public smoking bans in certain areas have resulted in significantly lower heart attack rates and generally healthier people on those areas. Construction of public walking and biking trails in some urban areas make available more options for exercise. Mental health and depression are certainly a problem as well - as you stated mental health is sometimes related to weight gain, mental health is also connected to homelessness. There's no silver bullet, but I'd rather see prevention played out a little more seriously before my rates/taxes increase becomes of someone else's bad decisions. I'm a fan of personal responsibility, let's give people more ways to become responsible for themselves and then hold them accountable if they aren't. -Cameron ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253931 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
