[one_third]Liberal – Babatunde Ojo
Absolutely not. When I think of U.S. citizens with mental disorders, I think of army/navy veterans throughout our nation’s history. Young men and women returning from the nightmare of war simply do not shed those memories of intense bloodshed and inhuman acts.
Time and time again will people clamor to wanting to support the troops, but so often that is tossed aside after guilt-tripping whoever is on the other end of the argument. These brave soldiers need to recover from more than physical injuries, but it is much easier to focus on what you compared to what is invisible.
Besides Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, other mental illnesses are just as difficult to find aid for. This is an issue with the current healthcare system in place; out of sight, out of mind and out of the hospital ‒ or any other institution that should assist in the recovery of these patients.
[one_third]Independent – Beshoy Shokralla
From a nonpartisan standpoint, I don’t believe that the U.S. truly takes care of people with mental illnesses. There are so many different factors to look at when trying to figure out how the country handles a particular issue, you can look at it from a social standpoint, in how society as a whole responds to mental disease, and from a political standpoint, the policies that government has in place to handle mental disease. From both standpoints I feel the US does not adequately address mental health care.
From a social standpoint, I feel like people with mental diseases are often looked down upon or ostracized for their disease. People throw around insults like “you’re retarded” or “you clearly have down syndrome” and use a disease people are born with in such a negative connotation; and that kind of language contributes to how society as a whole looks at people with mental diseases.
From a political standpoint, with the way healthcare is being thrown onto the chopping block and with how difficult it is for thousands of adults with mental disease to get insured, I don’t believe it’s being handled well at all.
[one_third]Conservative – Adrian Wong
No, and they shouldn’t. With the exception of government employees and veterans, the U.S. Government has no business in healthcare. Mental health is a serious issue which should be categorized the same as any other illness. Still, there is no place for socialized medicine in the United States.
One of the most important reasons why the U.S. should not provide free healthcare is that so many health problems are brought on by poor decision making. Smoking and obesity account for a huge number of the deaths in the United States. The CDC has found that in deaths under the age of 80, about 30% of heart disease, 15% of cancer, 36% of chronic lower respiratory disease, and 28% of strokes are considered to have been preventable. These are 4 of the top 5 leading causes of death in the United States with the only other member being accidents.
It is morally wrong to force a healthy individual to literally pay for someone else’s poor decision making. People should be allowed to make their own decisions; however, they should not be able to count on someone else to pay the price of their poor decisions. It is also morally wrong to force a doctor, who has likely spent several hundred thousands of dollars and nearly a whole decade of higher education, to work for someone. It should be their choice of what they want to charge and who they want to serve. With the exception of veterans and government employees, the U.S. should not be paying for anyone’s healthcare.
