Is universal health care politically feasible in the U.S.?

Yes

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by Larry Lounsbury

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Social inequality causes a lifestyle that tends to promote inadequate health care.

Changes are needed in our country.In America, many citizens do not have adequate health care coverage, but access might not be as much of an issue as life style. Why?

A person's lifestyle can greatly determine the amount of healthcare they will need throughout their life. Those who prefer to live dangerously by drinking heavily, smoking, and taking drugs, may be in more need of healthcare than someone who prefers a healthier lifestyle. Also with so many fast food establishments and decreased physical activity in the workplace, the population of the United States is becoming increasingly unhealthy.

Health is equivalent to a form of social control that encourages compliance to cultural norms (Macionis 382). Society and culture affects a person's health in basic ways. "Health therefore, is sometimes a matter of having the same diseases as one's neighbor" (Macionis 382). One disease that is on the rise in the United States is obesity. Naturally, a good meal can be a great reward for a hard day at work, but there are a great many people in the United States, including young children, that have no common sense in terms of the type of foods they eat and also the amounts they consume. People view lifestyles that are morally good as healthy. It is acceptable to be working under stressful conditions that can contribute to heart disease along with other illnesses.. Some people with type A personality are driven to succeed at the expense of their health, but it is an acceptable cultural norm in the United States (Macionis 385).

Cultural standards of health can change over time. It used to be thought that women should not attend college since it strained their brains. Masturbation was also considered a threat to one's health (Macionis 382). It is only fairly recently that the danger of getting skin cancer from too much exposure to the sun has been brought to our attention. Smoking is also a very dangerous lifestyle. Many people smoke because of the stress of low paying jobs, divorce, or separation. In the past, tobacco has been popularized in movies. Teens thought it was cool to smoke. The dangers involved from smoking cigarettes were also not truly known for many years. This lifestyle adversely affected the health of many people until regulations were passed that forced the billon dollar tobacco industry to admit it caused major health issues. (Macionis 386).

Bathing patterns have also changed. Today seventy-five percent of our country reports bathing everyday, whereas in the 1950's only thirty percent did so. Society's health has been shown to be affected by technology. As technology rises in industrial societies, the results are healthier people. Food production increases, along with improved housing and better health care. The flipside to industrial technology can be the destruction of natural resources such as water and trees. This can be seen in the United States in the form of water pollution from factories and from farm pesticides that seep into our drinking water supply. Overpopulation in some cities can cause the practice of raw sewage to be pumped into the rivers causing a variety of diseases (Macionis 382).

Social inequality causes a lifestyle that tends to promote inadequate health care. Medicine under the direct-fee system in the United States encourages medical institutions to charge fees that are often too expensive for the working class. This results in a lifestyle where it becomes acceptable to avoid the expense of seeing doctors unless it becomes a full-blown emergency. Many poor children and older adults are dying because of their lack of medical coverage. Recently however, the introduction of Family Health Plus makes health care now available to some people that would otherwise have no health care (Macionis 393-94).

Poverty can become a lifestyle for certain races in the United States. It becomes an acceptable norm in the African-American community to suffer drug abuse, gang violence, and poor health. It is even glorified in their rap music (Macionis 385). Turn on any medical show and you will find that black gang-members are reluctant to see doctors even when their life is threatened from a drug overdose or gang related violence. Casual sex can also be detrimental to a person's health. Some people refuse to obey the moral and physical problems such as STDs and unwanted pregnancies that can come about through casual sex (Macionis 386-87).

One dangerous lifestyle that is dominant among women is the desire to be thin at any cost. Being thin is a culturally, socially, and economically imposed necessity in the minds of many American women. The desire to be thin overrides the obvious dangers to their health. Going to a doctor for any problems they have associated with their dieting, gets put off until they become so ill they are forced to seek help (Macionis and Benokraitis 38-9). For some women their lifestyle is centered on eating because of a crisis that happened in their life. Some types of oppression would cause the women to either eat too much or eat too little. Their lifestyle would be constructed around their own rational at solving a problem (Macionis and Benokraitis 42;44).

Chronic and acute health problems are particularly high among the homeless population. With the exception of obesity, strokes, and cancer, homeless people are far more likely to suffer from every type of chronic health problem. Conditions which necessitate continuous treatment are exceptionally hard to treat or control in the homeless population. Some of these conditions are tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypertension, addictive disorders, and mental disorders. It is not uncommon for homeless people with mental disorders to use alcohol or drugs for comfort, which in turn puts them at a greater risk for AIDS and other communicable diseases. Many conditions, such as frostbite, upper respiratory infections, and leg ulcers are the direct result of being homeless. Homeless people are also more likely to suffer trauma from muggings, rapes, and beatings. Also, due to the lack of facilities, the homeless populations usually do not have good personal hygiene, which also causes health problems. http://www.homelsess .org/health.html

People can be pushed into a lifestyle by forces which can be hard to overcome. The stigma for a pregnant teenager may cause her to run away from her parents, rather than seek adequate health care for her and the baby. The lifestyles of drug addicts have been proven to be one of self-avoidance of healthcare, even although access is easily available for treatment. Along with their addiction comes the risk of aids and sexually transmitted diseases (Sultz and Young 53).

The United States is a country that is facing epidemics of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addictions, drive-by shootings, and babies that are born addicted to drugs. This country appears to have a remarkable ability for ignoring the truths about matters of public health and wellbeing (Sultz and Young 53).

Solving problems with our health care system is not a simple task. Access to healthcare has to be provided for every man, woman, and child. I also feel that we must have a social and cultural change along with providing affordable health care for everyone. These changes would include bringing our country back to the more traditional values and morals of the past.

Works Cited

<http://www.natio nalhomeless.org/heal th.html. Health Care and the Homeless. June 19 2004.

Macionis, John, J. Society: The Basics. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. 2004.

Macionis, John, J. and Nijole V. Benokraitis. Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and

Cross-Cultured Readings in Sociology. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. 2004.

Sultz, Harry, A. and Kristina M. Young. Health Care USA: Understanding Its Organization and

Delivery. Maryland: Aspen Publishers, 2001.

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