A Step Towards a Healthier Society or an Invasion of Personal Freedom?

It's understandable to everyone that health is one of the most valuable assets a person can have, and that's because when you're healthy, you'll have the capacity to do every other thing without any constraint, despite how great routine checkups would be, yet many people neglect regular checkups, probably due to cost, fear, or their negligence, but would making regular medical checkups mandatory be ideal or not? I mean, in one sense, it's great because it'll benefit a lot of people and play a huge role in their lives; however, if looked at from the other angle, we'll agree that it's more like a bridge of individual freedom. What I, for one, feel this stands to do is raise the important debate of public health, personal responsibility, and the need for government intervention.

Like I said, a routine checkup is a great idea and would impact lives positively more, and that's why I want to first cut through the benefits of making routine checkups mandatory and the downside it poses, after which I'll stand my ground, so without further ado, let's get to it.

So talking about the benefits such would pose to lives, one of them is that it'll help individuals detect diseases earlier: When you look into society today, a lot of people are carriers of different illnesses and diseases for months and years that they know nothing about due to the fact that they don't visit the hospital at all to examine their health status and quickly detect illnesses and diseases they might have contacted, and early detection can go on to enhance survival rates and reduce such illnesses from gaining ground to becoming chronic.

It can also go on to drastically reduce healthcare costs, and that's so because preventive healthcare is way cheaper than emergency treatment, and this is one of the main reasons why compulsory medical checkups seem like a blessing in disguise. Other aspects it can improve/benefits are; increased productivity of the health practitioners, and improvement in mental health awareness, amongst many others.

On the other hand, talking about the downsides of making routine medical checkups compulsory for everyone, at the top of the list is how it violates individual personal freedom, and that's because making such compulsory is literally an infringement of personal freedom and the right to do things as they deem fit, although it might be good, but the force in such makes it look like the government is overreaching; we as humans should have the right to make our own decisions. Another is financial burden; making someone routinely visit the hospital will take a toll on their finances, especially in nations like ours where healthcare is quite expensive; not every one of us earns enough to be able to fund the fee required for a routine checkup.

Additionally, such a proclamation can lead to a potential form of corruption and exploitation of the people, meaning some hospitals can use that opportunity of compulsory medical checkup to overcharge patients, and that's not forgetting how it can also pave the way for fake checkup certificates to be issued to those who don't want to be fined for not following the mandated policy on compulsory medical checkup.

So personally, after going through each of the benefits and drawbacks associated with making medical checkups mandatory, I've come to a conclusion that's based on reaching a balanced approach that's understandable: in truth, compulsory checkups can lead to a healthier society; however, enforcing this to the point of fines and jail time isn't ideal but extreme, so I feel like the government should adopt the following, one of which is subsidizing checkups fee. I've come to understand that one of the reasons why some people don't want to indulge in routine checkups is because they can't afford it, but in a situation where the government subsidizes the price or makes it free, a lot of people will seize the opportunity and be encouraged to participate.

Other ways to go about it rather than punishing people for not doing it are creating constant awareness campaigns that can go on to enlighten people about the benefits of routine checkups, and it'll be a more effective solution than using force. I also believe encouraging people who indulge in routine checkups with incentives is a more potent way to attract people to participating than punishing those who don't. Take, for instance, those who participate were offered tax reduction and the like; before you know it, others would want to benefit from such reduction, and it'll attract them to going for routine checkups themselves.

Overall I agree that making medical checkups compulsory is a good thing that will benefit everyone; however, it raises eyebrows in terms of ethical and financial aspects, so ways to go about it, in my opinion, are making health more accessible for everyone, investing more in our health facilities and health practitioners, and going on to encourage a culture of health-conscious citizens who want to be checked and treated without fear of complications and the like.

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