As I was reading news this morning, I came up on one USA Today blogger who had the following thing to say about Obama's revamped healthcare bill:
"I work hard for my money. I studied, went to school and got a great job. I did not attend the parties that my friends did and lived for the day like they did. I planned my future and am now secure. So.. Obama is asking me to pay for my old friends health care who failed to plan properly because they did not have the foresite and just wanted to have a good time at the moment. Obama wants me to work hard again to pay their bill? Is this what he is telling me???
Exactly right. For all of us who have worked all of our lives to provide for our families, Obama is asking us to do it for the families that don't know how to work...or just won't work."
Obviously this person's statement is skewed and doesn't apply to nearly everyone - I think it's fair to say that for those people who work, the reason they can't afford health insurance isn't because they don't work hard enough for their money.
Really, the "I work hard for my money, why should I support you?" argument can be used against any socially-supported program and is essentially why our country hates the idea of socialism (or even more so, communism). These same people are against all forms of welfare. While there're certainly some points to be made that the system might promote laziness and reward lack of ambition, I think there're enough incentives to not be a bum in life and to have some ambition (and not all of the incentives are financial...think of the social ostracism, for example). I think most people are just upset these days because they work hard and see diminishing returns (kind of like how primary care physicians are working less as described in one of the articles Dr. Stevens linked to). So while they can moan about how some people work very little and still get benefits from the government, they can also lament the fact that some people get paid a LOT for doing the same amount or even less work (sports/movie stars). Life just isn't fair, right? You can't please everybody.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting because I have heard a lot of arguments like this since the health care reform bill was proposed. Some people are very opposed to the idea of universal health care, because as Filip said, it leaves room for others to work less but reap the same rewards. Why work hard and work all day long in order to get the same health care coverage that you can get for free by not working at all? The design for Obama's campaign logo has been changed on t-shirts and bumper stickers to read "Socialism" instead of "Obama".
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wonder if these feelings would be the same if the economy was different? If people weren't strapped to find a job to pay the bills and jobs were easier to find, would people be more open to universal health care, or is this just a product of the stresses of a recession?
I can understand why people who have worked hard their entire lives would be frustrated to have to pay for the health care coverage of those who did not work so hard. In an ideal world the issue of health care would be black and white, but in practice there are many gray areas to consider.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the system where people are denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition, even though they have worked hard their entire lives? What about a system where people are suddenly dropped from insurance coverage once they develop an expensive illness even though they have worked hard their entire lives? I can understand why someone would want to blame a lack of health care coverage on individual attributes because it is self-protective, we think if we work hard enough the above situations will never happen to us. However, they do happen in practice every day and these are issues that should not be ignored in health care reform.
I agree with filip that "the same argument can be used against any sociially-supported program." It goes hand in hand with the myth of the welfare mom who lives off of government money and does not feel a need to support herself. Oftentimes this isn't the case, people just need help and this way of thinking that is so ingrained in many Americans only separates us further and allows big businesses to continue to bully us.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that in some cases people may abuse the system, but in regards to healthcare, I still feel strongly that health is a right. People should receive access to proper care. The whole issue is just so complicated that every single decision made by members of congress can have potentially devastating consequences to the way America's economy works and the quality of life that its citizens receive.
I agree with Dmitry that it's a good step forward for President Obama to include 4 different republican proposals in his version of the health care reform bill. As silly as some of it may sound (like Sen. Coburn's anti-fraud idea), I would think it speaks to what a lot of Americans are concerned about. Media has highlighted malpractice and fraud as a large portion of high medical costs and even though it's only billions out of trillions of dollars that may be salvaged, it may be worth more in terms of getting a health care reform bill to pass. So silly or not, it's encouraging after the partisanship seen during the health care summit.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pervasive American attitude that if I work hard, then I will have good things and other people who don't have the same things must have not worked hard. I have two comments to this. First, do you think that the day laborers who are hired for construction work to build new houses and buildings do not work hard? They often are day laborers who are paid only for when they work and are not full time employees and are not eligible for health insurance. Other very hard working individuals are self-employed and also cannot afford the cost of privately-purchased health insurance. Secondly, as to the idea that those of us that work so hard shouldn't pay for those who haven't...the main issue here is ignorance. What the average american does not understand is that we do pay for their health care. When they show up to an emergency room, it is the taxpayers who end up footing the bill at public hospitals and at private hospitals, it is the other people who have insurance and who have overpaid for their care who pay the bill. So what people need to understand is that either way we all pay for the health for the uninsured. It's just a matter of how we choose to pay for that.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Nicole's comments. I do not think people understand how everything is funded and others do not realize the impact of the health care reform. Usually when people think of the uninsured, they think of those who are immigrants, poor, "abusing the system" or are jobless because they are lazy, when this is not the case. Most of the uninsured are those who work in those small businesses or those who make too much for federal programs, but not enough to afford their own health care. I think there should be a way to disseminate information about who the uninsured population really is.
ReplyDeleteI find it ironic that the USA Today blogger quoted by Dmitry stated that he wasn't like his friends who lived for the day without planning for the future because that is exactly what he is doing now. He isn't considering the future where he may one day find himself in a situation without health insurance or with poor coverage and in need of assistance from others. Tomorrow he may lose his job and his coverage may be dropped or he may fall gravely ill. I wonder if then his opinion would change...
ReplyDeleteKristin, I was wondering the same thing - would things be different if our economy was in better shape. But I think the reason why people are opposed to universal healthcare is a reflection of where today's society stands. Any social welfare program requires a "take what you need, give what you can" approach, but I don't think our society is ready to do that because people will be more inclined to take and less inclined to give...
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