Socialized Health Care in the USA

[kandrathe]

People don't need always need medical treatment because they are fat and lazy. And, as for male pattern baldness, I don't believe any socialised medical system covers that.

I agree. My point is that there is a significant amount of "health care" that is really personal preference rather than dealing with catastrophic illness or disease. And, for some, disease is self inflicted, so what about personal responsibility?

For example, a friend of a friend, was a union bus driver, but became permanently disabled due to his alcoholism. He pulled a full pension, and benefits until he died of the complications of his excessive alcohol consumption. Should addiction be treated the same as other chronic diseases like diabetes? If it is, then it has a ton of other social cost ramifications. I mean, the alternative is not to have him die in a gutter somewhere, only that negative consequences for poor choices are a fact of life. 20% of Americans drink more than 5 a day (and in the financial mess we are in I expect that is rising), and about 35,000 deaths per year are related to alcohol (accidents + disease).

If you make poor choices about your health, shouldn't you expect to suffer the consequences?

I think the national health care debate we SHOULD be having is related to healthy eating and exercise.