Is Healthcare a Right?
I think the core philosophical issue regarding healthcare today is if total universal healthcare is a right to all Americans or instead something else. See the quote below from Women4hope blog.
“Just the other day on my Women 4 Hope blog…I had a young man comment about being told he had sleep apnea, and that he needed a special devise to help him breath at night or he could die. Oddly, his insurance company won’t cover the cost of this piece of equipment. How can that be? This young man has resourcefully started a blog in hopes to find a used machine, or raise enough money to purchase a new one.So, how is it…That we are the richest country in the world, but we can’t afford to make sure our own citizens have quality affordable health insurance? This is actually a question I intend to pose to the presidential candidates at the10 Questions project, later this weekend (I’ll post the video here in comments, once I have it ready).”
I understand the issue this guy is facing. He needs to find a way to pay for a healthcare item that his insurance company does not cover in its policy. He obviously is complaining that the insurance carrier should be paying and not him. So, is it his right to have someone pay for this device?
I don’t think so. I wish him the best, and hope he gets what he needs. In fact, he has taken a very American approach to solving his problem. He is blogging to see if others can help him.
The point here is this, an individual that has a need should not be dependent on the government for healthcare. If healthcare is a right, then where do we stop with the thought pattern? Do we as a society provide clothing to everyone? What about food? That must be a greater need than healthcare. The logic just does not work for me. Healthcare is something we have to pay to receive. Americans simply have their priorities wrong. We would rather have the latest iPod or cell phone than save for our healthcare expenses. Insurance should take care of catastrophic problems; we should be paying for everything else, not expecting the government to take care of us cradle to grave!
November 15th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Healthcare isn’t a right the government should be providing, but at the same time I wouldn’t consider healthcare to be a privilege that should only be available to certian people. It is something that all Americans should have access to, but that doesn’t mean the government should have to provide it. Other ways exist to provide lower cost healthcare that don’t involve the government providing it. Mandatory employer sponsored healthcare plans come to mind.
I don’t think this specific issue addressed in the Women 4 Hope Blog entry mentioned above is an issue involving government sponsored healthcare, however that does seem to be what the author is implying by planning to bring it up presidential candidates.
This individual has access to healthcare, but the plan won’t cover his specific need. I’d like to hear your thoughts on cases like this where a life or death situation exists but the healthcare plan that is in place won’t cover the needed equipment.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
But this guy IS paying for insurance. If you pay for insurance and it doesn’t cover your actual healthcare needs why pay for it? If existing insurance won’t pay, why would anyone think government insurance would pay? What are some alternatives in situations where insurance won’t pay?
November 15th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
thanks for your comments Brandon.
In a true life or death situation, the individual would receive immediate treatment at a hospital by law. However, this case is more unique in that it requires the patient to have a device to help with his condition. So, the condition can be a life threat, but having the device is a different situation.
I just think the patient is responsible in this case for his own self, not the government. He needs to depend on his own resources, if his insurance plan does not cover.
I get more concerned over treatments that are experimental or not covered for major illnesses like Cancer. No individual could cover those costs by themselves.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the government to provide healthcare for everyone. I think there is a line where it transitions from right to privilege. I still think that children should have access to healthcare. We already provide education, why not make sure they are healthy as well? There has to be an age of accountability where the cord gets cut and they become responsible for themselves.
As an aside, I don’t think it’s a fair implication that people without adequate healthcare coverage have the latest and greatest gadgets. I know there are people who are like this, but that can’t be a safe assumption to make on a broad scale.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
If healthcare was a right, where would that end for people that needed healthcare due to their lifestyle choices? And who would define when lifestyle or pure genetics played into the healthcare need? Would the government pay for lung cancer treatment for smokers, or heart disease for those that chose unhealthy diets? The more rights we are given, the more responsibility we have to the government and to other Americans. The problem with Americans is we want rights with no responsibilities. We want rights and then we take them and run with them and acuse others of violating them.
We do have a right to manage our own life and prepare for murphy’s law when it happens, and it will. We have to start depending on ourselves and quit asking the government for things. It just makes us more dependent and able to be controlled.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
The core problem in the debate on Universal Healthcare is this; American’s have lost all conception of what our “Rights” are. Blame this on a declining public (and private) educational system, or just the ever-increasing dependency on the government to solve all our problems, but that is the issue. We need only look to the daily issues we see in politics; The “Right” to abortion; The “Right” to healthcare; The “Right” to education; The “Right” to job security to see that America has lost sight of what “Right’s” truly are.
The Declaration of Independence stated “Rights” correctly when it stated that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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 a nut-shell, that didn’t include healthcare, abortion, job-security, etc. The Constitution of the United States further elaborated on “rights” in the first 10 Amendments, but again, Healthcare was not among those listed.
Instead of pushing Universal Healthcare as a “Right” American’s should be getting inventive (as we always have done in the past) and figuring out how we can best afford healthcare, how we can level the playing field with Tort reform, and malpractice insurance reform. The out-of-hand lawsuits against medical providers is the largest issue at hand. This affects practices, charges and access. Unaddressed this will doom any socialized form of healthcare that might be propogated by the left. The one TRUE “Right” that we can rest assured we all have (for now) is to be creative in coming up with solutions for the healthcare issues we now face.