4 Dystopias Health Reform Will Prevent

Could Obamacare prevent zombie plagues?
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 24, 2010 10:50 PM CDT
4 Dystopias Health Reform Will Prevent
In this undated photo released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Will Smith starring as Robert Neville in "I Am Legend," is shown with his character's dog "Samantha."   (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Perhaps the best way to explore how health-care reform will affect our lives is to consider the fictional dystopias the Obamacare society won't have to endure. Or, have io9 do it for you:

  1. A mutant plague. A rich country in which 30 million people have no access to preventative care is the perfect incubator for a 28 Days Later/I Am Legend/every-zombie-movie-ever plague scenario. Now a weird rabies/rage virus is much more likely to be caught in a routine check-up.
  2. A society with no middle class. Too many movies have exploited this set-up, in which a small minority lives in Wall-E-esque luxury and the masses toil in crowded, smoggy cities. Equalizing health care makes it just a little bit more unlikely.

  1. Corporate slavery. In some dystopian futures, your whole life is tied to your job and the corporation that provides for it. Severing the tie between job and health care makes us all a little more independent (and encourages entrepreneurs, too).
  2. Fast-food apocalypse. Who knows if it will stop the encroaching McWorld, but the health bill requires calorie counts to be present on menus for all restaurants with over 20 locations—meaning that maybe, just maybe, people will think about what they're putting into their bodies.
(More health care reform stories.)

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