Healthcare, a right?

[Jason_AZCOM]

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Can a right be a material thing?

It seems to me that a right is something that someone is free to pursue, and not a material item.

In other words, rights are truly free and must not involve another party to be obligated to pay for them.

For example, the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not physical items or services, they are the ability to pursue those venues if you so choose. The government does not pay the tab for temples, churches, and mosques; yet, we have freedom of religion.

Further, the right to bear arms does not mean that the governement (or anyone else) must go out and purchase a weapon for every citizen, it merely means you have the option to do so if you would like to and can afford to do so.

Likewise, we have the freedom of the press. This does not mean that every citizen gets free unlimited newspapers delievered to their door, or that the governement buys printing presses and raw materials for the New York Times and the thousands of other media organizations. It is a right, but it is not a free gift.

This brings me to healthcare. The compassionate medical student in me wants to believe that healthcare is right, but if so, it is a right like the right to bear arms or the freedom of speech. It is a right to access, but not a right to free material goods and services. As such, I believe that general practice doctors should not be able to pick and choose patients, but I am not convinced that healthcare is right that can be given freely at an equal level to all people.

If it were, any citizen, including the extremely wealthy, could walk into any pharmacy and demand free Tylenol, free bandaids, free MRI's, free open heart surgery, etc.

Food, water, and shelter are much more basic needs then healthcare. All of those should be "free material rights" as well. Further, those rights should be addressed first since the are more basic. People can live their entire lives without ever seeing a doctor, no one can survive without eating, water, and shelter.

The government should pick up the tab for all citizens' groceries, water bills, and housing expenses, including the very richest Americans. After all, if it is a right, it applies equally to all....

What do you think?

JJB

 

[LukeWhite]

Jason,

Great post! I largely agree, but do have a slightly different take on rights--

There are really two sorts of "right" in society, I think: the sort that precedes and supercedes the society, like life or free speech, and the sort that society grants. While some people may believe that health care is a right of the first sort, I think most people are speaking of the second sort of right when talking about health care.

Take the right to a peer-jury trial--it's universally agreed this is a right in American society, but it doesn't precede society. It couldn't possibly, since one needs a society before one can have a jury. In some less advanced societies, such a right might not be available.

And so with health care--As you point out, it can't be the sort of right that precludes government from doing something, as most fundamental rights are, because it requires action on the part of society. But it can be the sort of right that society grants to its members when it achieves a certain level of advancement.

Of course, just because it can be granted doesn't mean it should be. Personally, it seems to me that we're an advanced enough society that we can afford to establish a right to access basic healthcare. This of course pretty much exists already, since any hospitals that took funding in the 50s had to agree to provide health care irrespective of ability to pay.

As for whether everyone should have equal access to health technology, I'd say no. That's the point at which it ceases to be a right and becomes an entitlement. But I do think we've got the resources to provide everyone a minimum of care, and really already do.

 

[DrMom]

This is a duplicate thread, so I'm closing it. Please feel free to contribute to the conversation in the Everyone forum.