Do you think health care is a right or a privilege? While most would consider it a right, I consider it a privilege. As Americans, you can purchase health care coverage that can be tailored to your needs or you can receive these benefits through your employer. However, it is not a right, as it is not guaranteed to everyone. In fact, if it were guaranteed to everyone, this would be the push towards universal health care. Listen to this debate (featured in the video below). In fact, we should be addressing the high cost of health care, and how we can lower the cost in a common sense fashion.
Health care is a privilege, as there are many Americans who choose whether or not they want health care coverage. Some cannot afford the coverage, while there are some who can afford coverage. It is the choice that many have to face in the morning. If it is a right, then prepare yourselves for long waiting lines for life saving procedures, physicians having to choose whether or not they can practice in this country, and losing the life saving innovative procedures that America is known for.
Perhaps a third option. Health care is a “Responsibility.” As in it is each person’s responsibility to take care of their own health.
Steve,
I wholeheartedly agree with you. As someone who struggled with weight management issues as a teenager, I realized that I had to take the initiative to change my lifestyle or my life expectancy would be cut shorter. In college, while many were gaining the Freshman 15, I switched to a vegetarian diet, started running, and became a fitness trainer to help pay my way through. It is the choices one makes that will ensure whether health care is cheaper or not.
As usual the right wing fascist bring forth their defining characteristcs the Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights. Of course in this case while stomping on the consitution they so highly regard. Health is not only a Right it makes good old common sense. If health care is available not only are we all healthier but eventually will cost less. But if you prescribe to this train wreck of a “Health care System” that rewards greedy Insurance compainies who sole mission is deny the very health care they are to provide, all in the name of profits?? Leave it only , you are only one job away from No Health Care and by the way : When was the last time your Empolyer gave you a “Choice” in determining your Health care provider??
Disgusted,
How am I stomping on the Constitution? Is health care guaranteed under the Constitution? NO!
Crystal Clear Conservative have you heard of “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness?” That’s where healthcare comes into place.
Yet you are completely ok with building of roads, bridges, schools, SS, Medicare, etc. paid by taxpayer dollars which ALSO isn’t “guaranteed” under the Constitution either, but it is done.
“If it is a right, then prepare yourselves for long waiting lines for life saving procedures, physicians having to choose whether or not they can practice in this country, and losing the life saving innovative procedures that America is known for.” —– The number of strawman arguments in this quote is RIDICULOUS. So your reason for not having everyone insured is for “long lines”. Are there not long waiting periods now? Are you actually advocating that it’s ok for millions of Americans who can’t afford health insurance (the young people who purposely aren’t buying it even though they can’t afford it, is a miniscule percentage and you know it), to be without it? Just remember whether you like it or not, those who can’t afford it will eventually come to the ER for their care – in late stages of disease as well as getting charged at an ER rate rather than an office visit rate. This is what drives up premiums (even private yes) now as somebody has to pay those bills. You really think a majority of those 45 million can afford insurance but just don’t WANT to buy insurance?
You will feel differently once, God forbid, your private insurance company drops you or doesn’t wish to pay for your cancer treatment, after years and years of paying premiums and copays. They already do it now for chronic conditions by rejecting claims and treatments from doctors now. It’ll be interesting to see then if you still believe it’s a “privilege”
Michael M.D.
Hey CCC,
I think HC is just one thing – a neccesity. That being said, it is incumbent on individual communities to make sure that every member of the community is beng taken care of by raising funds from the community members. That does NOT mean that the comumunity (not to mention national government) can FORCE its members to shell out – it is an act of charity.
Healthcare may or may not be a privilege, but it is definitely NOT a right.
Health care is a right, and it is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has always ruled by interpreting the INTENT of the writers of the Constitution Amendments, and as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were written as “inalienable rights” in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights was obviously written with them in mind (Ninth Amendment especially), the Constitution guarantees it – the Supreme Court has even quoted these rights in rulings (the ruling that enshrined the right to privacy for example). Being denied health care because of poverty or bad decisions deprives people of these inalienable rights.
If you think Healthcare is a RIGHT, than why stop there!
I want free food, clean air and shelter too.
I tell you what… I will be an American and work for my dreams, health care, food, clean air, etc.
I don’t need a gov. to give it to me or my lazy co-americans that want a free ride.
“all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
In the context of the constitution “life” is a right endowed by our Creator. Thus the “life” referred to in the constitution is our state of being alive. The constitution makes no reference to everyone having equal right the highest standard of life. It is true that some do not have health care because they cannot afford it, those people still have access to the ER and they are still treated in the case of emergency.
However, in all societies there is an inequality within its people with regards to the distribution of wealth and living standards. This includes health care just as it includes the quality of housing, transportation, clothing, food and many other aspects of life.
As medical innovation has improved drastically over the last 100 years so has the demand for improved health. This is naturally causing a rising cost of health care for the more advanced and basic benefits.
Health care is not free and it will cost someone for the coverage of those who cannot afford it. the result universal health care will be an increase in taxes or an increase in deficit. Either way our economy will suffer and the entire medical industry will suffer with it. the end result will be worse coverage for everyone and less incentive to be successful in our country. Our standard of living will eventually spiral downward.
Interesting discussion.
Publius: I read your article. Well-thought out, but if our rights are from God, do you really believe that God intended for millions to suffer without healthcare?
Additionally, by entering into a social contract (the Constitution) we have indeed given the “creatures” (as you refer to the branches of government) the power to determine our rights. This is the price we have paid for “freedom” in our country. On the flip side, our neighbor can’t just come in and annex our property, so that’s nice. Living in a society necessarily requires individuals to give up certain rights in exchange for others. We still have the “right” to kill another human being, but we will have to pay the consequences that our laws have determined. Just as this “right” has been subverted by society, so too have other “rights” been created. One of these, I believe, is the right to healthcare.
Jo: the old, “what next” argument. However, there is nothing about granting universal healthcare to Americans that implies additional rights and benefits will be conferred upon them as well.
Hi There: comparing healthcare to the types of cars people drive, the size of houses, etc. is a sketchy comparison. All of the other things you compare to healthcare are products of our commercialistic, “mine’s bigger” society. Healthcare is not. Nobody buys the best insurance because they want to show it off to their friends. It is a utility and something so basic that I believe every American should be entitled to it.
Also, I fail to see how universal healthcare will lead to lower incentive to be successful. Are you implying that the only reason you currently work at being successful is to enjoy healthcare that your less-fortunate fellow citizens cannot? And that once we are all on a level playing field, that you will no longer wish to play the game? You’ve taken some mighty large leaps in logic there, my friend.
I know that the main argument against universal healthcare is the high cost. But I ask you this: wouldn’t the money spent providing healthcare to the millions without it increase their quality of life, therefore increasing their productivity as citizens, and therefore ultimately IMPROVE our economy rather than ruin it? I think so. People tend to focus only on the initial negative aspects, rather than the long-term positive aspects of universal health care.
Jason,
It is you that have taken a large leap in logic, the money spent by the government would not increase the quality of life for anyone and will most likely lower the quality of life for those forced into the government run and controlled health care system
anything the government tries to take on for the masses becomes a black hole for money to where there is none, it is full of fraud and waste and as they try to come up with the rules about who gets health care and how much, then many people especialy those they claim to be trying to help will be much worse off than ever before.
health care is not a right or a privelage, it is an entire infrastructure of services performed by people, machines built by business and drugs produced and distributed and so much more… it can never be a right to force a segment of the population to provide a service for another… nor to force a segment to pay for that so called right!
and yes I really believe that God intended for you to work for what you get and not take it from others…
with all that said I would say that as a blessed and wealthy nation it is our responsibility to provide for those that can’t provide for themselves… and we should provide short term safety nets for those that can but have a temporary loss of job… all based on availability of funds and resources… (and the resposibility for this is state level the federal level does not have the right)
CCC, if you ever get dropped by your insurance company, lose your job, or have a gap in your coverage (with a pre-existing condition), you WILL begin to see things differently. Until then, good luck with your free market solutions to the healthcare crisis — because it is only getting worse, not better. Your feeling of invulnerability astounds me. The fact that you think that you are actually NOT one job loss, one financial misstep, or one economic downturn away from castastrophy (with no safety net) boggles my mind.
“Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness?” That’s where healthcare comes into place.
I’m sorry but that phrase is not in the Constitution.
When we use the language of “rights,” we are generally discussing very fundamental liberties, which are conferred on us at birth, and which no government is permitted to take away: free speech; religion and conscience; property; assembly and petition; bodily self-determination; self-defense, and the like. Freedoms. Nowhere in that list is there anything which must be given to you by others. These are freedoms which are yours, not obligations which you are due from somebody else. There is no right to an education, nor to a comfortable retirement, nor to otherwise profit by the sweat of someone else’s labor.
Now some societies, ours included, from time to time decide that its citizens, or certain groups of them, should be entitled to certain benefits. Sometimes this justified by the common good — a well-educated populace serves society well, so we guarantee an education to all children. Sometimes this is derived from humanitarian principles — children should not go hungry, so we create childhood nutrition programs. Healthcare would, in my estimation, fall into the category of an entitlement rather than a right.
Honestly like many things, the government should butt out of healthcare. Leave it to a.) the free market and b.) the states to decide if they want to impose regulations. The country is too large for the federal government to impose so many laws other than the powers that it has in the constitution.
Just look at the comments: the ones arguing for healthcare as a right are insightful, intelligent and well-written. Now try (if you can) to make sense of the ones arguing against the right to healthcare, and this is the message you get: I ain’t payin’ for no healthcare to give nobody a free ride! Take my advice, intelligent Americans, and stop wasting time trying to reason with illiterate right-wing fascists. It’s like trying to teach calculus to a 2-year old… they really will never get it.
If healthcare is a right guaranteed by the constitution, then it has been an utter failure for over 200 years, and it seems unbelievably ironic that anyone would put even more faith in such a failure to provide for their futures.
Its not that we don’t want to help those less fortunate. Its that we don’t want to enable the govt to use the threat of violence, or violence itself, to force someone else to help involuntarily.
Take wdbcopper’s advice, turn it around, and stop trying to reason with left-wing statists who put all their hope for salvation in the hands of an overarching govt that has consistently failed to provide what it has promised. At least if a private company fails as miserably as govt usually does, it can be sued for damages, and prevented from continuing its crimes. The govt will tell you to go f@(# yourself, or maybe even kill you, if you resist it.
True compassion can’t include the use of violence to divert scarce resources from their rightful owners.
If healthcare can’t be trusted to the free market, how did we ever learn to trust our food supply to the free market? Perhaps govt should provide and cook our meals too? According to the govt-lovers, quality of food will rise and cost will go down, as bureaucrats, rather than entrepreneurs, tax us to pay the bills, instead of having to meet our individual standards to earn their profits voluntarily.
The problem, of course, is that if most people can’t be trusted to make their own decisions freely, then democracy’s majority also can’t be trusted. Therefore, we’d need an omniscient, omnipotent king, or maybe just a Supercommittee, in order to survive. Someone to tell us what to think and do, and save us from having to make our own choices all the dam time. After all, no one is happier than the camper who is sure to enjoy plenty of work and cafeteria food for the rest of his/her days.
“…but if our rights are from God, do you really believe that God intended for millions to suffer without healthcare?”
Suffer, like the cats, dogs, monkeys, sparrows, etc?
I hate to inform you, but despite everyone’s best efforts, we all eventually die. Sometimes a little work will defer that eventuality a little while. Sometimes a lot of work, and a bit more time. But eventually, we all fall. All the kings horses, and all the kings men…?
Healthcare is like the police. It won’t prevent an accident. It will only help clean up the mess in the aftermath of one. And even then its often ineffective.
HEALTHCARE IS 100% A “RIGHT” FOR EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN!!! DO YOU THINK PUBLIC SCHOOLS, POLICE, AND FIRE DEPT IS A RIGHT FOR ALL CITIZENS RICH OR POOR?? YES IT IS, AND SO IS HEALTHCARE. ANYONE CAN LOSE THEIR JOB AND BE WITHOUT INSURANCE IN A BLINK OF AN EYE! AND IF YOU GET SICK AND CANT PAY EITHER YOU ARE BANKRUPTED BY THE MEDICAL BILLS OR I GUESS YOU SHOULD DIE ON THE CORNER IF YOU CAN’T PAY! OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE TODAY?? GO DIE ON THE CORNER BECAUSE YOU CANT PAY! JESUS HEALED PEOPLE AND NEVER ASKED THEM FOR INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MEDICARE-COVERS MILLIONS
MEDICAID- COVERS MILLIONS
VETERANS-COVERS MILLIONS
GOVERNMENT LEADERS/STATE WORKERS-COVERS THOUSANDS!
PAID FOR BY TAX DOLLARS!!!!!!!!! EXPAND HEALTHCARE TO EVERYONE PAID FOR BY ALL AMERICANS PAYING TAXES! AND THOSE THAT CANT PAY WILL BE TREATED AND WE CAN HAVE A CLEAR MIND WHEN WE ANSWER TO GOD!
It rather depends on the law and the law is what we want to make it. You can say that in America before Obamacare goes fully into force (2014 unless repealed) the system is one of health care being a PRIVILEGE based on the ability to afford it or get a job in which covers you. But actually one could say that many people who have the privilege do also have a RIGHT to health care by virtue of them or their employer having paid into an insurance pool. Its a legal right under contract. Those having retired have a RIGHT to Medicare by virtue of their having paid their Medicare taxes. And that right is a right in LAW. Same with Medicaid eligibility.
The real issue is that there are 45 million Americans who have no insurance because they have lost their job; because they have become ill and have had to quit their job, or simply cannot afford the premiums because most U.S. states, unlike many other countries, allows insurers to cherry pick who they insure and on what terms. So the issue is really DO WE WANT THE SICK, THE POOR, AND THE UNEMPLOYED not to be able to afford to insure themselves and thus become the UNDERprivileged (perhaps the UNPRIVILEGED).
Most other countries ensure that RIGHTS are tied to OBLIGATIONS. You have the RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE but you also have the OBLIGATION to pay your taxes and contribute to your health care costs over your lifetime. It was conservative policy at one time that everyone should be insured and should contribute to the cost of their care when they are able to do so. And yes the mandate WAS conservative policy at one time. Its what we proposed in opposition to Hillarycare. And that is good. Quitting or losing a job in France or Germany or Canada does not leave you without health care and this means that in those countries there is better labor flexibility.
So yes, health care CAN BE A RIGHT if we want it to be a right. But it comes with certain OBLIGATIONS. That is the basis of health care rights in Europe, Canada, Massachusetts, and in 2014 across the whole of the United States. If Americans choose to repeal Obamacare they will be going back to it being a right of privilege. There is no right or wrong answer to the question. It what we want it to be that really matters.
People are making this issue way to complex when it is really quite simple! Healthcare is a privilege because it is a service provided, no one can absolutely guarantee healthcare even with the most advanced universal healthcare. Healthcare is not a right, but a privilege that should be provided to everyone if possible. A “right” can’t be a service provided by a professional, it’s like saying you have a right to get a back massage. Nonetheless, Healthcare should be provided to everyone if it is possible. In time, everyone will have access to it, it’s all about building enough capital and creating enough wealth so everyone can afford Healthcare.
To summarize; Healthcare is not a right, but a privilege. Services can not be guaranteed to an individual, but can be granted by the service provider if the circumstances are met. (Location and time are a big factor in determining if someone lives in more serious health problems)
I hope you find my post insightful, cheers.
If healthcare is a right, people all over the U.S. would lose their jobs, which would increase unemployment. Personally, I wouldn’t want to pay for other people’s healthcare because I work hard for my money. This free healthcare is not free, taxpayers will be paying for this “right”. It’s hard to speak for those who try to find jobs or have health conditions that prevent them from holding a job. Saying that it’s a privilege means that only those who can afford it can have the proper healthcare, but what about those who choose to be healthy, but cannot afford it??? There are people that are lazy and live off of government funds, they are the ones to blame, but I do not blame those who try to find jobs and pay for healthcare. There shouldn’t be a free healthcare, but there should be lower costs for private healthcare and allow people with existing illnesses into healthcare plans.