Discussions

Healthcare Right or Privilege?

Posted by bradhart • 9/23/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: healthcare

I just started a new discussion on this subject in my own forum and would love to see some of the discussion there as part of my forum beta testing.

bradstinyworld.com/forum/talk-about-the-posts/healthcare-right-or-privilege...

User Comments

9/23/08

footiam

It should be a right but in many cases, it is a privilege.

[reply]
1. 9/23/08
  
  irtiza104
  
  ofcourse it's a basic human right. but it's very sad that (not only the1.1 bil people) many many people dont get any healthcare....
  
  lifeasiknowit22.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-do-my-part.html
9/23/08

Anok

I feel that access to proper medical care is a human right. The ability to have, maintain, and preventably treat health and health problems is a human right. We all have a right to be healthy, and to be able to detect and prevent catastrophic illness whenever possible.

Now, that's different from access to any medical care - I don't think that access to say, plastic surgery is a right. That's a privilege in the majority of cases.

[reply]
1. 9/23/08
  
  irtiza104
  
  yeah
2. 10/28/08
  
  deunadiana
  
  I agree with you 100%. I am so tired of people using the words communist and socialist without fully understanding the theory, esp. in this debate.
  
  I've been reading your blog/board posts and must say that I am happy to see that some people can respectfully disagree.
9/23/08

NikkiCorrupt

It should be a right for everyone to have that privilege

[reply]
9/23/08

VampireFaust

Once it becomes a privilege, as it has in America, it creates a caste system type hierachy in the society which separates the wealthy from the poor.

[reply]
9/23/08

voodooKobra

I like to think it's a right, but it's a right I don't have.

[reply]
9/23/08

DaneMorgan

Interesting responses.

A right, at least as framed in the US Constitution is a particular breed of animal. Rights are not things that must then be delivered, but rather things, the delivery of can not be prevented or forced.

In other words, a right to health care would be termed as something that the government can not prevent people from obtaining, or force people to accept. It would not be something that the government or any other entity were obligated to provide.

Also it is important to note that in the traditions that lead up to the formal declaration of human rights in the constitution, the rights are "self evident". They are. Thus you can not "not have a right". You always have and always had the right, though is some places and in some times, that right might be abridged, meaning that you are prevented from enjoying the fruits of it, by some entity, almost always governmental.

In light of all of this I would say that, yes, all humans have a basic right to access health care free of the abridgment of their governments. No government can, in right, preclude all or a portion of their populace from seeking and obtaining health care.

One provision I would add is that in the pursuit of said health care, one does not gain the right to harm another individual. There's a whole can of worms in that statement too though, and I'll just leave it at that.

[reply]
10/28/08

goshopper1

I would say health care is a basic human right.Just as the right to emergency 911.
However we do have the responsibility to take care of our health, to be healthy.
The provision of health care is on governments. The onus is on the individual to be responsible and protect their health.

[reply]
10/28/08

gamecherry

If you think that healthcare should be free for all, then you're a communist/socialist. It's not the job of the govt. to make sure you're healthy, that's your job as an individual.
Besides, the govt. cannot run anything effectively. Ever been to the DMV?, that is what healthcare will be if we let the govt. run it. Long lines & shotty care.

[reply]
10/28/08

deunadiana

I have written two blog posts pertaining to this debate (inspired by a post from another BC discussion board). I would love to hear your thoughts:

cosmopolite-kaffeeklatsch.blogspot.com/2008/10/health-care-is-same-as-haird...

cosmopolite-kaffeeklatsch.blogspot.com/2008/10/mariecel-vs-flamingpoodle-ro...

[reply]
10/28/08

destinedforwhat

i believe it's a right and i don't consider myself a communist/socialist. but i do believe that with health care it has become a commodity rather than a service to help keep the healthy, healthy and heal the sick.

[reply]
10/28/08

Profitimo

Ideally its a right, but whats happening is the other way around..

[reply]
10/29/08

goshopper1

Health care is a right, not a previlege. It is the responsibiliy of governments to make health care accsessible to their population making it a right, but not free.
Some systems may require you pay out of your pocket. Other systems may require you pay through taxes. I live in a health care system where taxes are not low. I do not pay out of my pocket but through other deductions.

[reply]
10/29/08

lotusb

It is a privilege but I think it should be a right. When you look at the almost 50 million people who don't have any (including myself) your looking at people who constatly have to worry about ANY little thing that might go wrong putting them into serious debt. Thats something that should be a priority and frankly McCain or Obama, I'm glad it's getting a little more attention these days.

[reply]
10/29/08

BlueSunshine

Inalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Not having healthcare puts a damper on that whole "life" thing, don't you think?

[reply]
6/04/09

rxvette

I think healthcare is necessary to sustain life and therefore a human right. Here's a story that can attest to that:

rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/05/healthcare-reform-touches-home.html

[reply]