Cartoon: The Power of Prevention
Click to enlarge
This was loosely inspired by a real woman who called into NPR (I think it was the Brian Lehrer show?) to rage against health care reform and a public option. At first she went on some typical rant about how the evil socialists wanted to force everyone to pay for health care for sick, lazy and old people. She followed up with a sanctimonious self-congratulatory bit about how wonderfully healthy SHE was due to her yoga and consumption of organic and local food and how she didn't need health insurance due to her pure diet.
In other words, for her, sick people were lazy and immoral, and getting cancer was their own damn fault. It's not just this random radio caller, either -- I've increasingly heard that argument elsewhere (especially in talk over the "obesity epidemic").
Sure, yoga is awesome, and local and organic food are fabulous, but they aren't marks of moral superiority or magical wards against disease and illness is not a moral failing. (And isn't the local/sustainable/organic food movement supposed to be about building community and protecting the environment and improving worker conditions for everyone... not just an individualistic way of keeping impurities out of your own special body?)
I wanted to scream through the radio. "Lady, ANYBODY can get sick or injured, no matter their age or diet or yoga skill level!" (Anybody can, say, trip inside their apartment, break their foot, have complications, and need six months of tests and treatments and therapy--lucky me I have health insurance!) Also, EVERYBODY ages.
We need affordable, comprehensive universal health care that doesn't discriminate on health conditions, in which everyone shares the risks—and reaps the rewards when they need it.
Labels: cwa, food, healthcare, toons
11 Comments:
Nice try but you are in fact a bit off mark... while there are certainly factors beyond ones control, and people should not be held accountable for them; many are not. Between 2001 and 2006 50% of health care cost increases which were double the overall inflation rate were due to an increasing rate of obesity. The following study, in the August issue Archives of Internal Medicine shows that we can reduce by 80% our risk of getting many chronic diseases, which account for the vast majority of all health care costs if we were to do 4 things... Never smoke, regular exercise, eating healthy and a healthy weight ... "On average, healthy living may cut your odds for heart disease, cancer and diabetes by about 80 percent, the researchers said." You can also live longer, in fat many people could go into ripe old age and ultimately die without getting many of these conditions which would reduce costs.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/08/10/more-evidence-healthy-living-brings-long-life.html
There is a piece of reform that must include some personal responsibility appropriately done. In fact currently an individual can get up to a 20% premium reduction by being involved in wellness programs and Senator Kennedy's committee and the House have recommended that this be increased to 30% and up to 50%.
Anonymous, I think you misunderstand me--I'm not saying that statistically, exercise and healthier foods and not smoking don't decrease health costs. Of course they do. Or that the American diet of CAFO meat and high-fructose corn syrup and processed foods isn't leading to increased rates of diabetes and heart disease, because of course it is. And I'm not entirely dismissing wellness or prevention campaigns, especially targeted ones for at-risk populations.
What I AM saying is that health is no proof of moral superiority, and health status for anyone can change at any time. And sickness is no proof of moral lack.
It's expensive to be healthy. Fast food in this country is cheaper than healthy foods, and organic foods are very expensive compared to canned goods. Not to mention that people without cars living in poor areas of town may be far from grocery stores. To grow a garden to feed yourself takes a lot of free time, and space to grow. These are privileges of people with more money than the ones who could really use it. Yeah, people could try to live healthier, but is isn't easy or cheap, and it doesn't come naturally in this culture.
a. brown, you are so right about this. Cheap crap food gets bigs subsidies, healthy whole foods are expensive and difficult to obtain for many.
Good one, the person in the toon and on the radio was very holier than thou it seems. I know that you are a single payer sorta girl.
The issue I have with that, is habits and choices. I work in corrections when I see people that are orange from pure alcohol addiction, and despite 7 OWI's they continue, unproductive to the whole society, and contribute very little. Not to mention the effects of meth, coke, and heroin that is plaguing the health care system.
And it's not just the drug users, that are hurting the system, it's the entire criminal element, I had a client last week tell me he refuses to pay any of his bills and just files bankruptcy every 10 years or so.
I think that some personal responsibility has to come into effect. Maybe the moral side of things has to match the legal side of things. I would feel bad for the tax payers that get suckered in for paying for the attempted rapist's medical bills for getting bobbited.
We live in such an individualistic society the most people can't even begin to comprehend that sometimes they have absolutely NO control over what happens to them. None. You can do everything right and you can still get cancer, you can still end up unemployed and headed towards the financial cliff, you can still get robbed.
The whole "bad things happen to OTHER people because they brought it on themselves" is a coping mechanism to deal with the fear that bad shit can happen to anyone at anytime, even them.
Velvet, that's a great point. We are an anxious society who hates to accept risk, and this is one way many folks cope with that. Statistics and studies are all very well, and some behaviors are more or less healthy or risky than others, but there are no guarantees for any particular person. And that's just life. Which is why everyone needs a safety net.
I don't think there's anything morally superior about being healthy, but I do believe that the most powerful act of resistance is eating real food and sticking it to the companies that create all of the foods that make us dependent and addicted to junk.
I teach girls in low-income communities how to eat fruits, vegetable, whole grains and other good-for-you food by shopping at local farmer's markets and how to shop at grocery stores. It surprisingly can be affordable. But I do live in New York City, not sure if it's so easy living in other places.
P.S. I love your artwork!
Trenia,for the record I'm completely with you on that (resistance against Big Ag and Big Food, that is). And I agree that shopping at farmer's markets and buying fresh produce can be surprisingly affordable (for neighborhoods and places that have them available, anyway--NYC has its own share of food deserts).
I hear a lot in this debate about personal responsibility and not having addicts (for instance) 'leech off' the system. What strikes me is that the sick are currently creating a huge weight on various American systems - from the economy to the criminal system (as with addicts), and a better health care system would help people overcome it. Healthy people cost less to the tax payer, right? Well, how do you solve a problem like obesity - through shaming people about their Bad Choices or getting them health education and the infrastructure to change? I don't see how a health care system diminishes personal responsibility, at all.
People should be 'personally accountable for smoking'? Sure. But what's the big whoop about having the NHS (I live in the UK) having dedicated programs for helping smokers quit? Because that money could go towards upstanding citizen's health care who have never smoked? But don't we all benefit when someone quits smoking (unless you live with them, and have to deal with their grumpiness)?
Bet she bought from Whole Foods.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home