Now that Obamacare is the law of the land for at least the
next 2-4 years, I’m going to make some incidental observations about universal
healthcare.
i) Paradoxically, guaranteed healthcare can encourage
unhealthy behavior. To take two anecdotes:
I knew an ex-drug attic who used to stand outside the ER
when he took Speed. He figured that if he suffered a heart attack from
overdosing on Speed, and collapsed on the sidewalk right outside the ER, he’d
be resuscitated. That made it safe for him to pop amphetamines.
I have two older cousins who smoke and drink heavily. Both
developed heart disease. Both had bypass surgery. Both went right back to
smoking and drinking after bypass surgery.
People can use healthcare as a backup system for high-risk
behavior.
ii) Universal healthcare leads to official food Nazis. You
no longer have the freedom to eat and drink whatever you want, because, if you
shove everyone in the same pool, then your risky behavior is costly to others.
Mind you, liberals don’t apply that calculus to sexually risky behavior (e.g. homosexuality).
iii) Apropos (ii), I think the dangers of some allegedly
high-risk behavior is probably exaggerated. For instance, there’s a hysterical
overreaction to smokers. But I sometimes wonder if the risk of smoking and
drinking hasn’t been hyped. To be sure, there are famous cases of smokers and
drinkers who died fairly young because they abused their health, viz. Humphrey
Bogart, Rod Serling, Edward R. Murrow, Christopher Hitchens.
But in the nature of the case, we tend to remember those who
died as a result of smoking and drinking. What about those who didn’t?
Back when smoking and drinking was glamorous, most folks in
the entertainment industry were regular smokers and drinkers. Off-the-cuff,
here’s a quick list of some famous smokers and drinkers. Their age of death is
in parentheses:
Steve Allen (78)
Milton Berle (93)
Ernest Borgnine (95)
George Burns (100)
Milton Berle (93)
Ernest Borgnine (95)
George Burns (100)
James Cagney (86)
Cab Calloway (86)
Cab Calloway (86)
Jeanne Calment (122)
Johnny Carson (79)
Claudette Colbert (92)
Walter Cronkite (92)
Claudette Colbert (92)
Walter Cronkite (92)
Hume Cronyn (91)
Bette Davis (81)
Marlene Dietrich (90)
Greta Garbo (84)
John Gielgud (96)
Lilian Gish (99)
Cary Grant (82)
Katherine Hepburn (96)
Charlton Heston (84)
Bob Hope (100)
Bob Hope (100)
Lena Horne (92)
Hedy Lamarr (86)
Hedy Lamarr (86)
Clare Boothe Luce (84)
Dean Martin (78)
Groucho Marx (86)
Groucho Marx (86)
Robert Mitchum (79)
Gregory Peck (87)
Leni Riefenstahl (101)
Arthur Rubinstein (95)
Bertrand Russell (97)
Arthur Rubinstein (95)
Bertrand Russell (97)
Frank Sinatra (82)
Barbara Stanwyck (82)
Mike Wallace (93)
Mike Wallace (93)
Mae West (87)
In addition, some of them are still alive:
Lauren Becall (88-)
Kirk Douglas (95-)
Joan Fontaine (95-)
Joan Fontaine (95-)
Zsa Zsa Gabor (95-)
Olivia de Havilland (96-)
Louis Jordan (91-)
Michele Morgan (92-)
Maureen O'Hara (92-)
Louis Jordan (91-)
Michele Morgan (92-)
Maureen O'Hara (92-)
This is not a list of teetotalers or heath-nuts. Yet they
either had a normal lifespan or lived well beyond the norm. And, typically, the
women tend to outlive the men.
It seems to be one of those situations where, if you have
good genes, your body can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.
I don’t say this to greenlight heavy smoking or drinking. But
it seems to me that there’s a certain amount of scaremongering on this subject.
Back when smoking and drinking was glamorous, most folks in the entertainment industry were regular smokers and drinkers.
ReplyDeleteLiving here in the LA area, I happen to know a lot of folks in the entertainment industry and I can confidently say that many are still regular smokers and drinkers, though it isn't as glamorous now.