Is it Governments job to protect our health or is that our own responsibility?

Question

To all of you who said it is our responsibilty Bravo little Dove you get extra kudos. ??? I can understand how you feel the way you do living in a country that is almost completely socialist now. But I would argue that the roll of government (at least in America) is to protect our rights and nothing else. The government should not be given any power that we the people do not have ourselves. It is not governments roll to tell a business owner that they can't let their customers smoke. It is amazing to me how many of you turned this into a question about the war. This has nothing to do with the war or Bush I was just trying to get some people to think. I guess I failed at that.

Answer 1

Our responsibility. I hate people who gripe because the government won't help them and they are a chain smoker and have lung cancer. Or obese and have diabetes and need drugs and insulin. We should take dope addits and alcholics and lead them by the hand and say now don't do that. They already know that and choose to live this life style and these same people blame God, "why did God make me sick?" "Why doesn't the government help me?"

Answer 2

Being a Brit i am happier being here than suffering like you all are. For those who say its your own responsibility i believe Michael Moore put it best when he said should you have to pay for your house to be put out if its on fire or doe you need a credit card if you are drowning in the see before the coast guard will save you. How about if your house is being burgled by an armed man should you have to do a bank transfer to the police before they will send the cops out. If they care to respond by saying that some of these would affect the public at large then who doe diseases and viruses affect. It continues to amaze me how the Right wing thinks that every baby is sacred while it is in the womb, But once it is out of the womb they couldn't' care the slightest if it is seriously ill.

Answer 3

Ethan, you fail to see the big picture. It is in our governments best interests to protect our health, because not doing so causes hardship locally, to the state, and to the federal systems.

You know that a lot of people are uninsured. The costs of these uninsured people are borne by all of us, the communities, the states and the feds. If the government doesn't not intervene, either through state funds or federal funds, what happens is that hospitals and health care provider go belly-up.

We don't want to lose hospitals and doctors because they aren't getting paid. And believe me, this is something that happens. So to prevent these loses, they get subsidized by the government.

Along the same lines, it is much much cheaper to pay for preventive care than it is to fix people who get injured or sick. So every dollar spent in health promotion saves the government much more in future costs.

Its all about finances. yes, in a perfect world we would all be responsible for taking care of ourselves, but do not live in a perfect world, not by a long shot. To take care of ourselves we also have to take care of our neighbors and the rest of our community.

Sorry if you don't like this answer. If you worked in the health care industry as I do you would see what a burden health care is to all involved.

Answer 4

It depends on what you mean by "protecting our health".
If you mean, suggesting ways a person can act, to improve health, it is the government's job.
If you are referring to ways of organizing programs to make healthcare more available, in order to provide for the general health of society, it is the government's job. it is the government's job to prevent outbreaks of illness.

If you are referring to the volunatry actions of the individual, to think about our own health, and do what is right, it is our own responsibility.

Answer 5

It is our own but due to medical costs and insurance rates, a lot of people cannot afford to do so. So should we tell these people tough $hit and let them die? Do you really expect a minimum wage earner to afford health insurance or pay their own bills when a one day stay in the hospital would wipe out a month's pay?

Answer 6

it's both. for example, cigarettes. if there was no regulations on cigarettes, people may still believe they are good for you to smoke. if big business were 100% honest with consumers then there wouldn't need to be any government oversight.

but as far as individual actions - for example - taking up smoking knowing how dangerous it is, that's a personal choice that the government shouldn't involve itself in.

Answer 7

The government should protect us from people like the ones who killed 3000 on 9-11 and people should pay for their own healthcare.

Answer 8

It is the governments job to protect the right of citizens to protect their own health.

Answer 9

It's the government's job if they send us to war and we come back disabled or worse. They can't even handle that.

Answer 10

People are responsible for their own health. When they cannot afford to do that something needs to be done. We cannot let people be sick or die simply because they can't afford the exorbitantly high cost of medical insurance. What do you suggest as an alternative for those people?