Show Date: March 1, 2006 
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Paying for Your Sins
A New Approach to Health Care

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond. Join us each week on Newstalk K57 on Wednesday night from 7 to 8 p.m. for exciting live science expeditions or listen live on our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com

All of us have been alarmed by the rising cost of health care. Many people here on Guam and elsewhere have been forced to the dangerous practice of discontinuing their medical insurance because they can no longer afford to make the payments.
	Not only does it put these people and their families in grave danger in case of serious illness or accident, it causes a huge moral and ethical dilemma for the rest of us. What happens if 7-year-old Maria Cruz, whose family has no medical insurance, is gravely injured in a car accident? Is Maria allowed to die because there is no one to pay the bills? If expensive medical care is extended to the Maria, who pays for it? Are you willing to use your tax dollars to do it? Now let’s suppose that Tony Cruz, the driver of the other car, also has no medical insurance. But Tony just came from a bar
and he was stone drunk when he hit Maria. Tony is gravely injured in the accident too. Is Tony allowed to die because there is no one to pay his bills? If expensive medical care is extended to Tony, who pays for it? Are you willing to use your tax dollars to do it?

Now, let’s take a different scenario. Suppose Joe Cruz has dropped his heath insurance because he can no longer pay for it and then he develops lung cancer. Joe has been a 3 pack-a-day smoker since he was 14 years old. Suppose there’s a very expensive new treatment for lung cancer and there’s no way that Joe can swing the bills. Do we let him die? Are you willing to pay for Joe’s expensive treatment with your tax dollars when he’s known for years that smoking is bad for your health? So who pays? The answer to these questions is, of course, that we all do, no matter what decisions are made. We pay monetarily, we pay morally, we pay ethically.

Should people who indulge in risky behaviors be made to pay for them? Increasingly, all over the world, the answer is “yes”. There have always been ‘sin taxes’ on things like alcohol and cigarettes. And there are movements afoot to both dramatically increase the amount of the ‘taxes’ and to use the monies for medical insurance for those who can’t afford it.

And then there are those who engage in other ‘risky behavior’. Who pays for the medical costs for divers without medical insurance who develop deep vein thrombosis or rupture an eardrum or develop the bends? Who pays to rescue someone who puts to sea without the proper equipment?

This week on The Deep we’ll be talking to Dr. Safa and Dr. Mandantsichi about science and health care and paying for your sins. We may also take an expedition call from the organizers of an important conference called “Sharing the Fish”. This conference will focus on the fish in the world ocean and how to manage them to ensure that there are fish for our grandchildren.

The Deep is broadcast on Newstalk K57 every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can also listen live from our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com. Join Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick, and Peter Melyan on the deepest radio show on Earth.