In the richest country on Earth, should health care be a privilege or a right?

Answer 1

Well, aren't food, shelter and clothing considered the basic rights ?

So don't ya think we should worry about them first?

Plus, where would you get the 1.5 trillion dollars each year to pay for universial health care ?

Total corporate and individual income tax revenue in 2006 was only 1.4 trillion.

Answer 2

Right !! Becuase a country is rich with public contribution as well, taking a country to some very high level is a combined effort of everyone, right from the governament to the public ! when they both work side by side, then a country becomes rich or powerful......So it think after soo much struggle atleast the health care should be the 'right' of the public..not just privilage, if health care is not taken to be a 'right' in the richest country of the world, then i fear the developing countries should not dream of anything !

Answer 3

In the three richest countries in the world it is a right. Not so in the good old USA. Here it is a privilege of the rich.

Answer 4

Do you mean richest per capita? Because I'm not Japanese (nor do I live in Kuwait, Qatar, or Dubai, either), so I don't feel qualified to answer that question.

I thought your normal diatribe was that very few of us are rich, anyway? If that's so, aren't you really asking if the rich should pay for the health care for the rest of us?

Either way, and gibes aside, I wouldn't say a "right", but if we, as a nation, can afford it, I think we should have universal health care, yes.

Answer 5

Health care should be a right, just like food, water, shelter and self-determination.

Our society is so messed up because people find absurd reasons to deny people things needed to live as a dignified human being. In the case of health care, they are often denied the right to live at all.

In the US, 50% of all bankruptcies are caused in part or totally by medical bills. 2/3 of them had health insurance. This is ridiculous. No one should have to choose between death and poverty.

By many different metrics, the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and yet US citizens are among the least healthy of all modern, industrialized nations. Even Cuba has lower infant mortality rates!

Answer 6

I think that it should be equal across the board. I do not want to have to pay for it while people who can pay for it but lie about how much they make don't. Screw that, everyone should get the same level of care that happens in European Countries right now, everyone has Health Care. But then again in a lot of European countries it is such a huge Gap between the Haves and the Havenots. The US is the worst about that, and the Gap is just getting bigger.

Answer 7

Hi, LHFP! Haven't "seen" you in awhile.

Good question. I think people certainly deserve health care, but a right? I don't know.

But then again, I don't think giving birth should be considered a right. Look how many children are brutalized and even murdered by their own families. Some people just shouldn't be trusted with a goldfish, let alone a child.

Answer 8

The simple answer is that it should be a right. However, so should food and shelter. As rich as we are, we cannot provide top quality care from cradle to grave for 300 million people though. Taxing corporations even more will drive out businesses and force them to go abroad and take their money elsewhere which will drive down tax revenue and hurt job growth here.

Answer 9

It's still a privilege.

I do think a government safety net program for people who cannot obtain coverage would be good.

However, a government monopoly wouldn't work.

A lot more people than you think refuse coverage. Sometimes, and I'm not certain about the number, people will have duplicate spouse coverage or simply not choose to buy it.

I don't think it's proper to force people into buying it.

Answer 10

Health care should be a right. I've always considered privilege too expensive for what I make...(like a top of the line Hummer that I want sooooo bad, but could never touch with a 10 ft. cattle prod)