Who is responsible for your health?

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This question came up during a class discussion. In light of diminishing health care resources, who is responsible for one's health. Is health care a "right" or a "privilege". I would really appreciate your reply, the answers will be used during a debate.

Thanks

We are each responsible for our own health. With limited resourses people with chronic health conditions are going to have to be as educated as possible about that or those conditions and be EXPECTED to comply with reasonable treatment. Have htn- take your meds and monitor your bp. Have diabetes- take your meds, monitor your blood sugar, exercise, call health care provider for bs higher than personal target. Some common sense things can keep health care costs in check. Control bp- fewer strokes. Control blood sugar- far fewer side effects and much better quality of life, less kidney failure, less dialysis. Is health care a right? I don't necessarily think it is a right. It is available and we are lucky it is. If it were a right like life it would need to be available all over the world which it is not. In the developed world people want to see it as a right so they can make government pay for it. Government has limited resourses unless everyone who works is willing for government to take however much they need from our paychecks to pay for everyones health care plus everything else. Soon enough there won't be enough left for you to support your family. As it is I've heard that less than 50% of people work. SO 50% have to support 100% of the population? That is a formula for disaster.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

What about those who have worked their butts off for a life time? What about those who have had Wall Street steal their retirements and their cheap, heartless employers who are in the business of "healing" provide no retirement pension nor health care.....cut them off, treat them like crap and leave them by the curbside to die? While the "Government" "fat cats" get fatter, have their own exclusive healthcare and salary FOR LIFE.......they can't be prosecuted for insider trading so they can use all those inspire tips the lobbyists give them for favours and only pay a 14%tax rate because their income is based on investment capital gains. I am not singling out a single person because they are all guilty. Yet they will bicker and argue amongst themselves :argue: and cut from the most vulnerable populations, like the elderly, so they can vote themselves another payday.....and that really P!$$#$ me off.

I think we should have healthcare and take care of our own first. I worked at the bedside humping my butt off and have had to fight to receive the money that is owed to me...just to live below poverty? A system that I contributed to the entire 35 years I worked....now I struggle to keep my family afloat. We have chewed through money to fight for what is mine and be promptly dumped by the system I spent a lifetime devoted to.......through no fault of my own. I have been attacked by An auto-immune disorder and for all I know it has everything to do with all the radiation, chemical and meds I have been around all these years. I now have my fat butt (distorted by MASSIVE DOSES of steroids) in a wheelchair and struggle to brush my hair and listen to people make comments about fat patients if they just would stop stuffing their face and follow medical advice.....all would be right with the world......what a bunch of bull...:icon_roll.

Well it's NOT! :madface: From the moment we are born we are dying and just like our beloved car......we wear out too. All this propaganda that the sick have lived wrong and that is what has them sick..... is BULL!!!! I live in fear everyday that my husband will lose his job because we use the insurance too much then what will I do? Try to "buy" insurance? What a joke....no one's going to insure me.:bugeyes:Turn to the very industry who has treated me like a leper to ask for help??? :banghead: Live right and live long??? What a bunch of bull horns!

Remember no one knows what the future holds and every day you grow older. You do not know what the future holds. I think there needs to be a re-haul of the entire system and the abuses stopped. But the answer doesn't lie in going after those who can't protect themselves...:heartbeat

I usually don't let out my secrets but there is more to the picture than the black and white lines.

There but for the grace of God go I....:loveya:

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It is not currently a right in this country. I think it is funny that people point out those that do not take care of their chronic conditions as a reason we shouldn't create a baseline coverage for everyone. Yes, there are people that do not take care of themselves. A lot of people don't comply with orders because they don't have a doctor. They see a different doctor every time they go in to the emergency room. Maybe if they had a primary doctor that they could ask questions too they wouldn't have to run to the ER every other month.

We are in charge of our own health, but if we can't afford to go to a primary care doctor should we be punished?

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