Menu

Argument: People leading healthy lives will be burdened by the unhealthy

Issue Report: Single-payer universal health care

Support

“Should the Government Provide Free Universal Health Care for All Americans?” Balanced Politics.org – “Healthy people who take care of themselves will have to pay for the burden of those who smoke, are obese, etc. Universal health care means the costs will be spread to all Americans, regardless of your health or your need for medical care, which is fundamentally unfair. Your health is greatly determined by your lifestyle. Those who exercise, eat right, don’t smoke, don’t drink, etc. have far fewer health problems than the smoking couch potatoes. Some healthy people don’t even feel the need for health insurance since they never go to the doctor. Why should we punish those that live a healthy lifestyle and reward the ones who don’t?”

Lawrence R. Huntoon, MD, PhD. “Universal Health Coverage — Call It Socialized Medicine”. Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. 2000. – “Government mandates increase the costs of health insurance tremendously, and the mandates are often for things that most people don’t want or need. Yet, they are forced to pay for the “coverage.” “These mandated benefits included wigs for bald-headed women (Minnesota), pastoral marital counseling (Vermont), and community sperm bank services (Massachusetts).(3) In New York state, most health insurance premiums doubled as a result of state-mandated community rating. This has made health insurance especially hard to afford for the young and healthy who are, in effect, punished by the state for being young and healthy and for not engaging in unhealthy behavior.”