The Romans did believe that illnesses had a natural cause and that bad health could be caused by bad water and sewage. Hence their desire to improve the public health system in the Roman Empire so that everyone in their empire benefited. – not just the rich. Those who worked for the Romans needed good health as did their soldiers. In this sense, the Romans were the first civilisation to introduce a programme of public health for everyone regardless of wealth.
Here is a AMA response to the new Healthcare law. I think it's was nay.
That's a 2009 article and does not reflect the final healthcare law, which was passed in 2010. It was specifically about a plan to create a government run insurance plan.
In fact the AMA (the Doctors) support the Affordable Care Act. Read the AMA press release when the Supreme Court upheld the act:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/2012-06-28-supreme-court-health-care-reform-decision.page
AMA: Supreme Court Decision Protects Much-Needed Health Insurance Coverage for Millions of AmericansFor immediate release:
June 28, 2012Statement attributable to:
Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD
President, American Medical AssociationThe American Medical Association has long supported health insurance coverage for all, and we are pleased that this decision means millions of Americans can look forward to the coverage they need to get healthy and stay healthy.
“The AMA remains committed to working on behalf of America's physicians and patients to ensure the law continues to be implemented in ways that support and incentivize better health outcomes and improve the nation's health care system.
“This decision protects important improvements, such as ending coverage denials due to pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps on insurance, and allowing the 2.5 million young adults up to age 26 who gained coverage under the law to stay on their parents' health insurance policies. The expanded health care coverage upheld by the Supreme Court will allow patients to see their doctors earlier rather than waiting for treatment until they are sicker and care is more expensive. The decision upholds funding for important research on the effectiveness of drugs and treatments and protects expanded coverage for prevention and wellness care, which has already benefited about 54 million Americans.
“The health reform law upheld by the Supreme Court simplifies administrative burdens, including streamlining insurance claims, so physicians and their staff can spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork. It protects those in the Medicare ‘donut hole,’ including the 5.1 million Medicare patients who saved significantly on prescription drugs in 2010 and 2011. These important changes have been made while maintaining our American system with both private and public insurers.”
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Here is the AMA's page on the health care act.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/advocacy/current-topics-advocacy/affordable-care-act.page
Family, community and church is a nostalgic myth. Try reading Charles Dickens if you really believe that. Or look at the history of the Donner Party. Not everyone has a family to take care of them, or the family may be too poor. And I'll leave it there.
Certainly, the health of many Romans benefitted from baths, grain allotments, irrigation, veteran care etc.
But to call this universal healthcare is a stretch, and certainly such benefits did not reach the entire empire. Doctors were slaves, mostly owned by the wealthy.
If anything, these civic programs most likely prevented the empire from collapsing sooner.
Not everyone can afford COBRA coverage when they lose a job or change jobs. I've been there and COBRA payments can run upwards of $600/month. For most people, that is simply impossible (as it was for me when I was 24 and changed jobs and lost health care coverage for 45 days as a result).
Here are two points that I think are important when considering this debate:
- We already have socialized health care in this country. Yep, we do. It's called Medicare and Medicaid. And you can get that free, government health care when you're old, disabled, poor, have certain health conditions, or too sick to work any longer. Consider the following scenario: A 41 year-old man lacks health insurance. He works, but has a job that doesn't provide insurance or provides insurance at too high of a cost. That man develops type 2 diabetes, but doesn't know it, because he never gets basic preventative screenings. At the age of 48, he gets really sick and ends up in the ER, where he is diagnosed with T2D. He can't pay his ER bill, so the hospital eats that as uncompensated care (passing it on to the insured). He can't afford to get test strips or the medications the ER doc prescribes. Within a couple of years, he develops severe complications from his T2 diabetes. Maybe he ends up requiring an amputation or maybe he develops kidney disease. Either way, he is too sick to work any longer. Now he is poor. His income qualifies him for Medicaid, and the fact that he may have ESRD enables him to get coverage under Medicare (regardless of age, you're eligible for Medicare if you have end-stage renal disease). So, now he's getting tons of treatment, all paid for by the tax payer, but wouldn't it have been better and cheaper to provide him oral meds and some test strips to prevent him from getting this bad? That way, he could still work and pay taxes himself. In the scenario I describe above, he and his family would likely start collecting public assistance of some sort as well.
- Health care is a public health issue. We don't think about it, but communicable diseases still exist, and when people walk around sick or unvaccinated, we are all at risk. Right now, whooping cough (pertussis) is being diagnosed at a rate not seen since the 1950s. This is partly due to parents making the poor decision to not vaccinate their children, but also because adults are unvaccinated thanks to lacking adequate insurance coverage. Vaccinations only work if we all get them (or at least a critical mass to achieve herd immunity, which has a different threshold for different communicable diseases). Tuberculosis is also making a comeback and frequently in drug-resistant forms. People without health insurance cannot access care to treat TB and can spread it to others. We are all susceptible. Whenever someone has a health condition that is communicable (i.e., it can be transmitted from one person to another via air or bodily fluids) and does not have health care, that condition goes untreated, leaving ALL of us vulnerable (and this is especially dangerous for people who have chronic conditions, like diabetes).
Years ago, we decided that providing public education was a common good; that is, we decided that everyone benefits from ensuring that children have access to free, basic education. That is how we justify making everyone chip in and pay for our public education system. I don't understand why health care isn't seem the same way.
At the risk of sounding overtly political, I tend to be a bit of a radical on this point. It becomes clearer and clearer that healthcare is a human right. Either everyone deserves it, or no one does. Sometimes I'm not sure which.
Hi Sam. Rather than sounding political, I'm going to sound like a Star Trek time traveler: I believe that every person in the world has the right to healthcare!
Wonderful explanation, My bustedpancreas!! Health care IS a public health issue!!
And dare I get political and ask Did you see how well President Bill Clintion tackled the issues last night?.. Well. let me stop, if I can. My political leanings are all too obvious,as If I care..lol
God bless,
Brunetta
I so agree Brunetta. One of my favorite parts of Clinton's speech was when he asked what kind of country we want to live in... a "we're all in this together" society or a "you're on your own, winner take all" society. Sums up my feelings perfectly.