Is Good Health an Option or a Responsibility? (Essay Sample)

Title: Is Good Health an option or a responsibility?
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Date: April 3, 2012
Introduction
Good health is every prudent individual’s and governments’ or societies joint responsibility. Good health in this case not only applies to the physical well being of an individual but also includes mental and spiritual wholeness. (Glanz, 5) Good health as a responsibility implies that every individual must make an effort to acquire good health and should be held accountable for their physical and mental well being. The government is also responsible for availing good health as an option by ensuring health care is accessible and affordable for everyone. Individuals to a certain extent are accountable to themselves and to other people for their physical, mental and spiritual well being. The society to a certain extent is also responsible for people’s health.
Good health usually is a result of proper nutrition, physical fitness and mental sanity and well being, all of which are majorly a result of deliberate decisions made by individuals. Proper nutrition and good eating habits go a long way in ensuring an individual stays healthy. Illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart diseases are among the leading causes of death in the United States. These conditions are also a direct result of lack of physical exercise and poor eating habits. Poor eating habits in this case include too much consumption of food and drink in addition to this food and drink containing harmful ingredients and too much calories. It is bad enough that junk food has become the commonest meal in the United States of America without having individuals not take exercise physically.
An average American adult’s lifestyle is usually too busy. It is difficult to make time for physical exercise and decent healthy meals every day. It is easier for busy individuals to forego healthy eating and physical exercise simply because it is easier for them to and they can. There are numerous cases of individuals succumbing to illnesses such as diabetes and heart diseases which are preventable. Individual responsibility stems from the fact that these individuals can choose to lead healthier lifestyles but they do not. (Wadley, 34)
Societal responsibility on the other hand stems from amenities that should be provided by the society that have a direct effect on individuals’ health. These include the supply of drinking water, refuse disposal and sewage systems. The society in this case is responsible for ensuring proper sanitation, clean drinking water and a healthy environment. Schools should be held accountable for the kind of nutrition they offer children in schools. They are also responsible for the students’ physical activities. They decide what physical activities students take part in, how long they engage in physical activities and whether or not these activities are compulsory. They also decide the kinds of food stuff availed to students. As much as individuals decide whether or not to consume junk food, their poor eating habits are supported by the easy availability of junk food in schools, at most if not all work places and in many homes. Access to these foods has been made easy by the availability of vending machines for junk food and soft drinks in schools, at the work place, in malls and in strategic points in Cities and towns.
As for mental well being, the societies as well as individuals play a major role. This especially applies to mental illnesses that result from drug abuse or stress. The society is responsible for ensuring that its members live in a stress free environment. They can do this by making sure neighbourhoods are safe, supporting policies against overworking, ensuring the minorities are protected from all kinds of abuse whether physical, verbal or emotional and generally assisting poor people especially those who lack basic needs; shelter, clothing and food.
The society should be held responsible for educating the public especially on the dangers of poor eating habits and lack of exercise. They need to ensure that the public makes informed choices especially in response to adverts. Advertising has been found to affect individuals’ decisions concerning consumption because it impacts on psychological choices. Junk food manufactures and sellers have taken advantage of the effect advertising plays on people’s psychology and decision making to encourage the consumption of junk food. The society is responsible for ensuring that the population is fully informed especially on the dangers of consuming these foods.
America is one of the biggest spenders on health care and medical care. Yet many of the illnesses that require vast resources, expensive equipments and expensive medication are conditions that result from leading an unhealthy lifestyle. For instance, cancer equipment is one of the most expensive medical equipment. Treating diabetes is also an expensive venture. Both conditions result from poor eating habits. It is important to remember that the vast amounts of money spent on health care every year are covered by tax payers. This of course is in a bid to ensure that health care is readily available since everyone has a right to health care and medication. However, this has brought the issue of moral hazard in the country. People choose risky lifestyles and are not keen on observing healthy lifestyles partly because medical care is so readily available should they succumb to any illness. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that this money is not spent unnecessarily. Illnesses that can be prevented should be prevented by all means and vast amounts of tax payers’ money saved. Tax payers should be forced to pay for persons who choose risky lifestyles. In this case, individuals have a responsibility towards tax payers, not to burden them unnecessarily with having to finance treatment for medical conditions that are easily preventable. Individuals are responsible for protecting against future illnesses. For instance, it is their responsibility to ensure they have medical cover at all times just in case.
Treating HIV/AIDs and other STDs has also proven to be quite expensive in addition to some of them being incurable. In spite of this, young people especially continue to engage in promiscuous behaviour endangering their own and other people’s lives and well being. In this case, it is every individual’s responsibility to ensure that they refrain from promiscuous behaviour with or without protection because the kind of protection available is not 100 percent safe. In cases such as these especially, whereby, an individual’s health status could affect another individual’s health, good health can be viewed as a responsibility. Therefore, individuals have a responsibility towards fellow human beings...