My standard of care is irrelevant to the discussion. For a kick off I’m not based in the US and I benefit from a National Health Service that I’ve contributed to since joining the workforce over 35 years ago. Sure it’s flagging along with everything else in the prevailing culture of austerity but it still puts poor Brits in an infinitely position than poor Americans should they fall ill.
I dislike the cut of your jib, sir. I’m not keen on victim blaming or the idea that any individual owes the world and his wife their personal definition of optimal health. Health is not a moral imperative, nor is it necessarily within personal control. More importantly I have lived long enough to witness way too much of the sheer dumb luck variety of illness. Like a friend’s mother who died of cirrhosis of the liver despite never drinking. Or my best friend, a keen swimmer and cyclist who ate home cooked meals prepared from scratch, who died of secondary breast cancer earlier this year. Or a friend of my doctor’s, a marathon running vegan, who developed heart disease and stratospheric cholesterol. And plenty more besides.
Everybody karks it, bub. And even paragons of virtue and abstinence can kark it young.
