I’m a long time vegan in my 50s, so I know the health benefits of a plant based diet. We are at lower risk for many diseases. However, even people with the best habits can fall ill and need healthcare. Communicable diseases, cancer, accidents, genetic disorders, allergic reactions, etc., can happen to anyone. And the older you get, the more likely something will happen that will send you to the hospital—a cold that turns into pneumonia, a heart arrhythmia, a fall.

Smart people also utilize preventative care like an annual physical, blood tests, and cancer screenings like mammograms, prostate checks, and colonoscopies. These can quickly become out-of-reach to all but the wealthy without health insurance.

We have to be careful with how we frame sickness. Unfortunately, the wellness industry is closely tied to eugenics and fascism. The idea that some people (typically the poor, disabled, elderly, etc.) are deserving of illness because they don’t (can’t) perform the rituals of wellness adequately, and this less deserving of care, is dangerous and wrong. The current head of Health and Human Services in the US, RFK Jr., is a eugenicist with financial interests in the wellness and anti-vaccine industries and holds this view. He has made comments suggesting that the lives of people with certain conditions are worthless, so we should all be very concerned.