Health care grows more expensive every day with new medicines and treatments. A small bottle half full of pills could be as much as $500. How are the poor to pay for such things? With income going to food, gas, clothes and housing, there is little money left over for health insurance. I would like to propose a solution that would save the middle and upper classes from paying for emergency care for those who can’t afford it and would eliminate debt from medical bills.
First, we must deny health care and emergency aid to anyone who can’t afford it out of pocket. Most important, this would save the wealthy the expense of paying more for health care to compensate for those who can’t. Taxes and co-payments would drastically drop, leaving the privileged with more money to save or to spend on summer cruises in the Caribbean, as they see fit. It would also have the added benefit that the poor would never have to worry about going into debt in the case of a medical crisis. Knowing they would not be offered services outside their budget would let them plan accordingly. Those who cannot afford emergency room costs would be more careful around construction sites and keep their children off play structures at parks. Mothers could give birth at home without medical pain relief. Less debt for the poor and more money for the rich would give all people more control over their lives.
Second, to further reduce expenses, we must outlaw risky surgeries and most treatments for chronic diseases. These cost too much and often the patient dies anyway. Heart transplants, removal of brain tumors, and separation of conjoined twins all constitute risky surgeries, while cancer treatment and other procedures associated with fatal chronic illnesses will also be stopped. Such procedures are expensive and have lower success rates. They are often performed on the elderly, which makes them even less appealing. Older citizens have little of their life left to live anyway, so why spend millions of dollars on them? These expensive, risky procedures will no longer plague our society as they drain our bank accounts to feed shaky hopes.
Now, some people may criticize my proposal as discriminatory toward the ill and less wealthy. However, we must have a solution for the millions who face lifelong debt or must forego care because of the high cost of medical treatment. And we can’t be followers. We don’t want to be like all of the other wealthy, industrialized nations that have universal health-care systems. Americans made that clear when they attacked and defeated President Bill Clinton’s health care plan. We don’t want to be like the United Kingdom, where citizens pay less and get better service. We want to lead the world and have our own American plan that works for the common good and makes the United States a better place.
If we follow my proposal, we will have more money in our pockets and fewer patients dying after treatments and surgeries. Our genes will become pure as the careless poor and chronically ill die off. America will lead the world into a new age of health care for the rich and healthy. It will truly be a game of survival of the fittest — economically and physically.
— Sky Adams is a Dos Pueblos High junior and contributor to Kids Speaking Up, a local group working to educate youth on social, national and political issues and inspire them to write.
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