Spring Break
Social services: Who deserves the benefits?
Sam Chenkin
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Ed-Op
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Last week my colleague, Jamie Thomson, wrote a semi-impassioned article bringing Drexel scholars up to date on the SCHIP program and the plight of America's uninsured children. She ended the article with an insightful comment, "That any child (or any person, for that matter) should go without healthcare in this country is appalling."
Any person. Why should anyone in this country not have the right to healthcare, or to a decent education? What about food? Shelter? Does it really matter if they are rich property owners, middle class citizens, poor illegal immigrants, or even criminals? Why do we insist on preventing those who need help the most from getting it?
Ok, I get it. Everything costs money. Social services are expensive. And today I am not trying to make a case for how it should be done. I am not even saying it should be done (though I'd be happy to argue that point with anyone, anytime). I am not going to bring up the obvious benefits of allowing everyone access to public services. You know, like preventing the uninsured from using hospitals as doctors, costing hospitals millions of dollars every year, which could be avoided with a relatively inexpensive preventative treatment. Or why we should help poor families to better themselves through education, and in this way eliminating their necessary dependence on public funds. I am not going to make these arguments. I am asking a simple question. Leaving aside all issues of practicality, why do we not want to provide these social services for everyone?
I'm phrasing that as a question, but it is a rhetorical one. I know why we don't want to -because it's not fair. We started saying that at the age of four, and why stop now? Why should we give an individual working 60 hours a week, doing a job few of us would be willing to do, access to healthcare, food, and shelter with our hard earned dollars. Ok, I guess that was a somewhat cheap example. It is easy to feel compassion for the motivated and hardworking but beleaguered working man/woman/child. What about the illegal immigrant who is working part time, spending all his money on alcohol, and using our social services to the limit so he doesn't have to get a real job? To be honest, I think these people are few and far between. Many illegal immigrants work harder than we do and make less money, and many still pay taxes. But for the sake of argument, let us take this one example.
Any person. Why should anyone in this country not have the right to healthcare, or to a decent education? What about food? Shelter? Does it really matter if they are rich property owners, middle class citizens, poor illegal immigrants, or even criminals? Why do we insist on preventing those who need help the most from getting it?
Ok, I get it. Everything costs money. Social services are expensive. And today I am not trying to make a case for how it should be done. I am not even saying it should be done (though I'd be happy to argue that point with anyone, anytime). I am not going to bring up the obvious benefits of allowing everyone access to public services. You know, like preventing the uninsured from using hospitals as doctors, costing hospitals millions of dollars every year, which could be avoided with a relatively inexpensive preventative treatment. Or why we should help poor families to better themselves through education, and in this way eliminating their necessary dependence on public funds. I am not going to make these arguments. I am asking a simple question. Leaving aside all issues of practicality, why do we not want to provide these social services for everyone?
I'm phrasing that as a question, but it is a rhetorical one. I know why we don't want to -because it's not fair. We started saying that at the age of four, and why stop now? Why should we give an individual working 60 hours a week, doing a job few of us would be willing to do, access to healthcare, food, and shelter with our hard earned dollars. Ok, I guess that was a somewhat cheap example. It is easy to feel compassion for the motivated and hardworking but beleaguered working man/woman/child. What about the illegal immigrant who is working part time, spending all his money on alcohol, and using our social services to the limit so he doesn't have to get a real job? To be honest, I think these people are few and far between. Many illegal immigrants work harder than we do and make less money, and many still pay taxes. But for the sake of argument, let us take this one example.
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