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Should healthcare be free?
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Free healthcare may create sedentary and irresponsible lifestyle

Humans would be living without taking care of their health since complementary health services are always available. Therefore, the awareness of being active in living healthily may be taken away.
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Context

Humans are risk takers and free healthcare might make them believe they can take more risk that might endanger their lives and livelihood.

The Argument

Human beings in general do not like being bored. There are entire categories and sub categories of entertainment that's been created for this very reason. [1] What this has to do with healthcare is that human's also take risks to not be bored. Things that'll give them a rush of adrenaline, things that'll work their body or mind just so they don't have to deal with mind numbing nothing. People don't always use safe methods to achieve such things though. Cases of people jumping from their roofs into pools, parkouring across buildings, and even recreational drug use. While these can be fun they are in no ways safe. There is always the possibility of missing the jump and the fall doesn't always leave you with a few scrapes. While living in fear of a hospital bill might not be the right way to prevent people from making live endangering decisions, free healthcare would most certainly broaden the horizons of what people think they can do and get away with. Free healthcare means it's not going to cost them as much as it could, especially with the younger generation. They see a price tag, not a debilitating injury in the making that could last a lifetime.

Counter arguments

Free healthcare has far too many benefits that outweigh the small percent of the population that might abuse this new found medical freedom. The medical world, since the beginning, has been dealing with this fear of the clinical and the motive that your health can have a punishing cost to maintain. Some people are so afraid of that cost that they would rather not seek medical help and suffer than be put into drowning debt. People might argue that healthcare should only be for those who afford it, who can pay for the best of the best but that’s a very closed minded and entitled way to look at things. Free healthcare would allow for everyone to be able to be able to see doctors and undergo surgeries for whatever ails them. Medical attention for illnesses or medicines that help keep you functioning. While there would be an increase of patients and doctors visits there would not be a real increase of those with ailments. The only thing that would change is people coming in when they actually need help or advice. This would decrease the amount of people spreading sickness and diseases. [2]It would allow them to come in for smaller problems to better under their body and it’s own unique quirks. Human beings are meant to learn from their mistakes, grow from their mistakes and not have their lives shortened by things out of their power like a sudden car accident. There are indeed risks that people should know better than to take but in the long run, when people need help they should have the means to be able to receive it with strings attached like a deal with the devil.

Premises

[P1] People in general do not always make the smartest or safest decisions.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311975208_On_The_Nature_of_Boredom
  2. https://healthcare.procon.org
This page was last edited on Sunday, 20 Sep 2020 at 00:52 UTC

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