A recent poll shows that as a result of the economic recession Americans are visiting the doctor less often and buying less fruits and vegetables. In other words, Americans are being forced to put their health on the back burner. It is unfortunate that in what we prefer to call the world’s greatest country, there are citizens who are risking their health and well being just to survive the hard financial times.
If there is a silver lining in this recession, it is that more and more Americans are beginning to realize the struggles of the less fortunate among us. For years the country has been divided between those who have and those who have not. Many in the middle class and upper middle class have been surfing along through life not thinking about those who have no health care coverage or who cannot afford a nutritional meal. Today many of those same people are facing the same trying times that millions in America have been familiar with on a daily basis for years and years.
Americans are often very short sighted. If the problem does not live in our house, we do not think about it. In other words, as far as we are concerned it does not exist.
I have always been taught that with every adversity there is a seed of equivalent or greater benefit. We just have to look for it. If there is a seed of benefit in this recession, it is that more and more of us are being forced to see how people who have always lived on the other side of the fence are living.
Health care should be available to every citizen. While many have discussed the high cost of getting a national health care plan in place, they have been short sighted and neglectful of our national responsibility to protect all our citizens. Health care is basic to our nation’s survival. We should not be forced to live in a country where the philosophy is based on survival of the fittest.
If every American could receive preventative health care, many of today’s health problems could have been nipped in the bud. Healthy citizens create a better work force, missing less days of work, are more likely to graduate high school and college adding positively to the economy. Healthy children are more alert, missing less days of school. Educated children are our future.
In today’s world many people avoid the doctor’s office hoping the symptoms will vanish. Eventually, the person is forced to go to the emergency room often facing catastrophic illnesses and overwhelming medical bills. Our parents and grandparents often told us that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The truth is that an preventive office visit to a family practitioner costs far less than the cost of an emergency room visit, not to mention the costs that follow an emergency room visit such as a hospital stay or long term care.
With all the talk in Congress and on the Sunday morning talk shows of the amount a total health care reform package will add to the national deficit, perhaps they should consider that a healthy nation creates a better and larger work force that contributes to the national economy rather than drains our nation’s financial resources from the shadows.
It is obvious that we, as Americans, will not agree on every point in a health care reform package. However, it is worth noting that we can pay for health care reform now or we can pay for our neglect of health care for all later. The longer we wait, the higher the price.
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