This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Medical Practice  • Health Policy  • Quality of Care  • Quality of Care, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: I am troubled that the Physicians' Working Group¹ made no demand for individual responsibility. If health care is a public good, as the authors implied, then it is something that taxpayers pay for continuously, whether they use it or not. Such common public goods include police and fire protection and public sanitation. However, with each of these public goods, there is an explicit understanding of individual responsibilities. For example, although the fire department is there to put out fires in our homes, we have the responsibilty not to purposely start a fire and to have appropriate smoke detectors in our homes and businesses. If medical care becomes a public good, then should we not insist that individuals have responsibilities toward their own health? If we enforce mandates such as smoking cessation, exercise, and weight loss, what would be the punishment for those who do not comply?

In . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Vic Velanovich, MD
Department of General Surgery
Henry Ford Hospital
Detroit, Mich

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
Donald J. Palmisano
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2797.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
Michael Patmas
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2797-2798.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
J. Timothy Ames
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2798.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
Constantine L. Hampers
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2798.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
Indira Jevaji
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2798.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance
Elizabeth A. Bayliss
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2799.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposals for US National Health Insurance—Reply
Steffie Woolhandler, David U. Himmelstein, Marcial Angell, and Quentin D. Young
JAMA. 2003;290(21):2799-2800.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance
The Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance
JAMA. 2003;290(6):798-805.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT