The U.S. health care cost is at its highest, and if no actions are taken, health budget may cripple the nation soon. The primary cause of the increased cost of health care is chronic ailments that are preventable. Chronic diseases spending is approximately 75% of the health care spending. Poor lifestyles attribute to more than 80% suffering from chronic diseases hence, the claim that the preventable are the primary cause of the current high costs of health care (Iuga, & McGuire, 2014). Recent surveys argue that obesity is at its highest with more than a third of the Americans being obese. The studies indicate that 15 million of these people have extreme obesity while most people do not know their conditions (Iuga, & McGuire, 2014). Drug abuse, for instance, alcohol and tobacco, and Obesity propagated by consumption of fast food or unhealthy dietary, and lack of training are the main causes of the chronic diseases.
These factors have led the argument of making the people who are unaccountable of their lifestyles choosing unhealthy to pay for their negligence rather than forcing others, who are responsible, to help in paying for their negligence (Golan, 2010). The debate has both proponents and opponents. According to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies should not discriminate people based on their health conditions among other factors to ensure that all the citizens are insured to increase quality health care accessibility and affordability. This law has led to increased premiums even for those who are responsible for their health calling for a change to ensure that those unhealthy living lifestyles pay the price for their bad habits (Iuga, & McGuire, 2014).
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The argument is based on cost-effective analysis since people should pay depending on the benefits and with the high costs involved in chronic treatments, people with chronic ailments should thus pay higher premiums as the cover will benefit them more. On the other hand, those opposed to such calls use utilitarian theory arguments to justify taxpayers support of chronic patients via government funded programs (Golan, 2010). They claim that due to the complexity of the chronic ailments discriminating those with poor lifestyles is immoral since they cannot prevent issues attributed to genes, or are not educated enough due to their low incomes.
The arguments are close to making the right call, but it is justifiable to make the people with unhealthy lifestyles pay for their bad habits. The increased payments will motivate the people to adopt healthy lifestyles. In conclusion, the taxpayers’ money should be used to develop education and improve the living standards which will help all Americans learn to live healthy lifestyles
References
Golan, O. (2010). The right to treatment for self-inflicted conditions. BMJ Journals . Retrieved 7 June 2017, from http://jme.bmj.com/content/36/11/683
Iuga, A. O., & McGuire, M. J. (2014). Adherence and health care costs. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy , 7 , 35–44. http://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S19801
