Healthcare Responsibility: A Financial Perspective
Is healthcare a right or a privilege? While on its surface an issue of ethics, a practical view of this question begs an analysis of its financial implications. With the cost of healthcare to consumers increasing and fewer companies willing to pay for these increases (ôWorkers pay more...,ö 2002), the corollary question arises: Who should bear the primary responsibility of paying for healthcare, the individual or society? Many nations provide universal healthcare and others, such as Canada, that previously did not provide it, are moving in that direction (ôThe Romanow Report...,ö 2002). The answer to the question of who should pay for healthcare must take into account both the quality of life for individuals and the financial ramifications for society. When analyzing the various factors that play into healthcare costs, our most effective option may be a universal healthcare system that integrates strong incentives for personal responsibility.
In examining whether the individual or society should pay for healthcare, one must consider both the well-being of the individual and the fiscal welfare of society. These elements do not stand separate, but rather are intertwined. A society is composed of individuals; the health and well-being of a society is the summation of the health and well-being of all individuals in that society. The better individuals feel, the better they can function and contribute to a society's stability and growth. When a worker is in good health, he or she can best contribute to the workplace. Artists can best inspire, leaders motivate, and innovators develop new technologies when these individuals' resources are not consumed in battling health concerns. For this reason, anything that improves the health of individuals is of tremendous benefit to society. A plan allocating responsibility for healthcare must first and foremost protect and uplift the health...