A Way To Fight Higher Healthcare Costs

After pouring through thousands of pages of healthcare reform

, I was certain that I would, in the end, stumble upon a topic that so desperately needed attention. With nineteen million new cases of STD infections each year in the U.S., I was certain that there would be an entire section, or at least a paragraph, devoted to this vital topic. After finally coming across it, I nearly wish that I hadn't. Apparently, a pandemic of this type is only worth about one hundred and fifty million dollars. At only fifty cents per person, that is an embarrassing amount .

If you think that you couldn't possibly be affected by this, you are wrong. Over half of these infections hit people between the ages of 15 and 24. That means that they are your siblings, your nieces, your nephews, or perhaps even your children. And in situations where you don't even know or come across the person who is recently infected, you'd be surprised to find out how many times it's your tax dollars that go for their treatment.

STDs cost our healthcare system billions of dollars each year, so a few hundred million isn't really such a large sum relatively speaking. With nearly $16 billion spent to fight the effects of these diseases, it would only make sense to spend a much larger proportion in order to fight them off before they even happen. Due to the silent and often deadly nature of these diseases, a proactive approach is an absolute essential.

STD testing, along with a willingness for more open and honest talk regarding STDs, can be a simple and effective way to fight this epidemic. We need to stop arguing about whether or not sexual education is the right thing to do, and start worrying about what message we want to send. Unfortunately, sexually active teenagers seem to feel that an unwanted pregnancy is the only downside of having sex. What they also need to be concerned with are the many different life threatening conditions that STDs bring to play.

Let's face it: sex is here to stay and that is never going to change. The advent of the birth control pill has granted many people a false sense of confidence and has made them feel that they have done enough towards the goal of sexual responsibility . The truth, however, is that it's also opened up a Pandora's box of other issues that are still seldom ever talked about. If we look at the continent of Europe, we can get a better picture of what possible changes might benefit our nation. They are much more sexually active, and much more sexually open too. It's the latter part that has led them to have a much lower STD rate than our nation.

Just last year $400 million was placed into the stimulus bill to provide for STD testing and HIV testing. However, both parties had a change of heart for some reason and quickly removed it. We should be united in this effort, as this investment can help trim our nations skyrocketing healthcare costs for us and future generations . Until then, however, we will continue to pay the price for this and other comparable past decisions.

by: Andrew M. Gibson

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