Healthcare: Privilege or Right?

Healthcare: Privilege or Right? Many people consider healthcare to be a privilege while others consider it to be a right. This has been an argument for more than one hundred years. It has become such a big debate in the US that a politician’s position on the topic could be the deciding factor of putting him in the White House or not for most of the voters. People can give convincing facts about whether healthcare is a right or a wrong but it can be summed up to more of a privilege than a right after a reading over all the true facts relating to it. A liberal minded person would commonly view healthcare as a right to every human being, regardless of race, age, culture background, etc. A popular way that people choose to prove this view is to cite the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It “states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including... medical care”” (ProCon). Another fact that someone might use to support this idea is that over half of the US’s bankruptcy cases are medically related; so those could be amended if the government supplied healthcare to its citizens. “In 2007, 62.1% of all US bankruptcies were related to medical expenses and 78% of these bankruptcies were filed by people who had medical insurance” (ProCon). A “healthcare is a right activist” might also say that healthcare can increase the number of jobs in the US. “Guaranteeing the right to health care will encourage entrepreneurship, which is good for job creation. Currently people are afraid to start their own business for fear of losing the health insurance provided at their existing job” (ProCon). The loss of jobs in the US has become a scare amongst all Americans, so that point can draw more attention to the healthcare is a right side. Those are the three main arguments that someone claiming that healthcare is a right would argue with. On the other end of the spectrum, many other

Cited: Arnst, Catherine. "10 Ways To Cut Health-Care Costs Right Now". BusinessWeek November 1, 2009: 34-39. Bennett, J. “Why Healthcare is a Privilege, Not a Right”. The Other Half. November 11, 2009. http://theotherhalf.net/2009/10/29/why-healthcare-is-a-privilege-not-a-right/ “Should all Americans have the right (be entitled) to health care?”. ProCon.org. November 11, 2009. http://healthcare.procon.org/