Health Care Identities Discussion Question

The biggest divide in identities in the health care debate seems to be political identities (ie. Democrat vs. Republican). In today’s system of political parties most people strongly identify with one side of the political spectrum and will blindly follow their beliefs, possibly ignoring what they truly feel as an independent individual. This clear political divide can be seen in the health care debate as Republicans and Democrats sling insults back and forth rather than focusing on the issue in a nonbiased way. Republicans accuse Democrats of being socialists because they support health care reform, whereas Democrats call Republicans selfish elitists for opposing any reform. The truth is that many people may support or oppose health care reform for different reasons than these stereotyped ones, but these strong political identities make it hard to focus on the issue holistically.

Another way people identify themselves in this debate is by class. Many people in the lower and middle classes support this reform because these are the people without access to affordable health care, people who the result debate will affect directly and immediately. For many of these people the debate on health care could mean the difference between life and death or financial stability and bankruptcy, depending on if the health care bill is passed. On the other end of the spectrum there are upper class people, many of whom oppose the health care reform because they are worried they won’t be able to use their own doctor or the quality of their private health care will diminish. In this way, many people’s opinions on health care are influenced by the class that they identify with.

Finally, age is another way that people identify themselves in the arena of the health care debate. Many people who identify themselves as young support health care reform because they want to be guaranteed good care for the rest of their life no matter what, not depending on how financially successful they become. Many old people on the other hand, oppose the reform because they are afraid that the government will start cutting funding for end-of-life care and will deny them treatments that would extend their life. The age group one identifies with therefore significantly affects one’s opinions on health care reform.