Health care

Don’t pay for others’

bad choices

I hear a lot about our apparent right for this government program or that government ‘entitlement.’ Personally, I would like to hear more about people’s responsibilities.

This story touts a particular right to health care. In theory, this sounds good, but how about our responsibility to take care of our health to begin with? With socialized health care, we will be paying for everyone’s right to smoke, their right to eat whatever they wish even if they become obese and their right to take unnecessary risks. We will also be paying for an inefficient administration of the health care enterprise not because of any incompetence of its management or workforce, but because of the arbitrary regulations and control mandated by political appointees and elected officials who don’t understand the process, but bend over backwards to please a small, yet vocal, segment of their constituency. It is just too hard to say ‘no’ when your re-election is at stake.

This might sound a bit cynical, it is not fair to the rest of us to pay for the bad choices of others. It is also not fair to pay for the layers of bureaucracy that will accompany any socialized medicine program.

Look at Medicaid and Medicare if you need examples. Look how bloated social security has become. Look how much it costs. If you are the one drawing all of the benefit, but paying little of the cost for government assistance, it is a good deal. Why learn to fish when you can get dinner delivered to your doorstep with a lemon wedge on the side?

We do have the right to be healthy, but it takes personal responsibility and not just another government program. I have seen little discussion on that small detail.

TIM JOHNSRUDE

Bremerton