Europe’s Financial Crisis Leads to Suicide Surge
The harsh spending cuts introduced by European governments to tackle their crippling debt problems have not only pitched the region into recession — they are also being partly blamed for outbreaks of diseases not normally seen in Europe and a spike in suicides according to the AP.
The report goes on to say that the “worsening health was driven not just by unemployment, but by the lack of a social welfare system to fall back on. People need to have hope that the government will help them through this difficult time”.
I think that it is “nice” to have public assistance programs available for the truly needy. There is however something inherently wrong with these social programs. I believe these programs promote government dependency.
A growing dependency of government is what got us into so many of our problems, and what is our own government doing? They are promoting that very dependency. Instead of raising people up, we are keeping them down. We are creating a generational dependency on social programs.
According to the 2012 Index of Dependence on Government more people than ever before—67.3 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries—depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance.
Once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions, Americans are looking to the government to take care of them.
The ethic of self-reliance joined with a promise to the brotherly care of those in need appears threatened, well nearly absent in today’s society. There was a time, before all of the social programs, when people took care of each other. If you were having trouble the first thing you did was —anything you could — to get back on your feet.
There was no sitting around waiting for the government to come to the rescue. Your church, or family or friends helped out, and you helped others when they were in need. We took care of ourselves without a dependency on the government.
Our social programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are unsustainable in their current form.
Over the next 25 years, more than 77 million baby boomers will begin collecting Social Security checks, drawing Medicare benefits, and relying on long-term care under Medicaid. There will be no event so financially challenging to these programs over the next two decades than this shift of boomers into retirement.
More than 70% of Federal spending goes to dependency programs.
With so many Americans on or soon to be on the government dole and nearly half of all Americans not paying income taxes, there is no way we can pay for all of this and our spending will spiral out of control (it’s almost there now). With an increase in recipients and a decrease in the number of workers left paying for these programs, we will soon reach our fiscal tipping point much as other countries have already, and this will put us in a certain domestic debt crisis of our own.
In doing research for this article I have found no evidence that Americans are suffering a rise in medical ailments and suicides. But we have not quite reached the same crippling financial problems as our friends across the pond.
…but trust me when I tell you, it’s coming.
Recession Requires Prescription as Americans Cut Visits
The one area of American life that was thought to be recession proof isn’t any longer. More and more people are cancelling doctor’s appointments or skipping doses of prescription medication to avoid paying the increasing out of pocket costs.
In one telling but discouraging survey done by the American Optometric Association, 36 percent of Americans are cutting back on seeing their doctors because of the recession. More specifically, 63 percent are skipping visits to their dentist, 59 percent aren’t visiting their primary care physicians, and 52 percent are skipping the eye doctor’s office.
Doctors’ are worried that if patients don’t make their different annual appointments that it will end up costing more in the end, physically and financially. One physician, Dr. Glenn Nemec, a family doctor at the Monticello Clinic said “that about a dozen of his patients have been hospitalized in the last three months as a result [of stopping their prescription medications].” Recently one patient of Dr. Nemec’s was even hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer after he stopped taking his preventative medicine.
The numbers are quite powerful as they show who is being affected. When the statistics are being grouped by ethnicity, 49 percent “[of Hispanics] indicated they are visiting doctors less often, compared with African Americans (36 percent) and Caucasians (33 percent).” When broken down by gender, women are going to the doctor’s less at 38% versus the 32% percent of men skipping.
Another, factor of skipped doctor’s visits may have to do with the federal program Cobra. This program was extended to cover 65% of the cost of the coverage and allowed the unemployed to keep their insurance for up to 15 months. However, many have met their limit and have had to drop the program. In addition, people that have been unemployed since the end of May don’t qualify for the subsidies.
Skipping the doctor’s office may seem like an easy way to save some money right now, but in the long run it can lead to serious health problems that might require a trip to the hospital.
There are other options rather than visiting your primary care physician, however. For instance, many urgent care centers are becoming more popular because you don’t necessarily need an appointment and in some instances the costs for procedures, such as a check up, can be cheaper than if you visited your normal doctor.
In addition, the American Optometric Association is offering basic eye health screenings and services for those who qualify, and they encourage people to call them at 1-800-766-4466 for more information.
Sources:
AOA survey
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Wall Street Journal
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