Do You Think It's A 'Right' To Have The Government Provide You With Healthcare ?

Question

Many times an issue gets clouded and argued based upon other initial beliefs . Government supplied Healthcare is a good example . When people debate that issue , they're approaching it with different mind-sets to start with . Some will argue that our healthcare system is terrible , because it's not perfect nor all inclusive on every need . Others will argue that it's just fine(maybe some improvements) and it's the ultimate responsibility of the individual to get healthcare insurance .
They don't view it as a 'Right' in the first place .

Do You Believe Government Funded Healthcare Is A 'Right' ? Or Not ? Either Way , Please Include Logical Arguments To Back-Up Your Position .
Thank you .

Judging by the answers .. . People who think it's a 'right' are not addressing the question , let alone answering with logic . P.S. - This war and it's costs have nothing to do with HEALTHCARE

Judging by the answers .. . People who think it's a 'right' are not addressing the question , let alone answering with logic . P.S. - This war and it's costs have nothing to do with HEALTHCARE

Charity oh Charity - Employers are NOT REQUIRED to provide insurance . They CHOOSE to .

Answer 1

No,health care is not a right and neither is welfare a right,people who honestly need either can get them but it's not a right.
RIGHT's do not depend on someone else paying for them.
Name 1 right in the Bill of Rights that is paid for by a third party.

The whole arguement is simple,people are trying to dodge their responsibility and socialist politicians are pandering to get that vote.

Answer 2

Well if years ago, limits on what taxes were used for, if taxes were dropped when no longer need, no permanent income tax created, maybe the government would have not created all these programs after taking corporate and individual money. If that were the case, maybe I could afford quality health care for myself and my children not subsidized by my employer. Thank goodness they do pay a large portion of it and I consider it part of my salary / compensation. As jobs are lost and go overseas, my opportunities to stay where I live to let my kids graduate here are getting slim and pay is less than half of what it was. There is a line no matter how well you have prepared that becomes hard to manage.

If the government is going to supply it - it better be in a form or fashion that is equal, valid, and of value. Medicare for the elderly is a joke. The elderly in this country came out of the depression and most had no means of investment or trust of it. They depend on pensions, retirement health care, and the government programs. The cost of health care has escalated so much in the last several years that they cannot keep up. If they don't have something else, they are out of luck. I would rather see more going to them and unisured children and single parents then the uninsured illegals. I have reached a point where my dollars should be represented and I think they are going to the wrong people. A right - no but the government has created programs where people can sit around on their duff and demand it.

Answer 3

Healthcare is NOT a right....and instead of trying to force government healthcare....maybe what should be done is as simple as stopping the Insurance companies from the outrageous rates they charge. I do believe that would be a better use of taxpayer monies.

It all comes down to the greed of others....the insurance companies blame the personal injury lawyers...the lawyers blame the doctors...and there you have it...a Catch 22 situation....where do you force the wedge to stop the high cost spiral?

Lawyers and insurance companies are the biggest scourge on society...and they are also the reason that people can't afford healthcare. It's not the government....well it is if you look at what they allow to happen in the Courts everyday!

Answer 4

I don't believe it's a right or a personal responsibility. I believe good and available healthcare for everyone who needs it is a trait of a decent society. A healthy workforce and consumer base is a great foundation to a great economy too.

No, our healthcare system is not terrible, but it is run by the insurance companies...that is FACT. It's not run by doctors and it's not run by the people. It's run by massive corporations that are as greedy as any.

I mean, WHO ARE WE???, as a nation, as a society? Why should someone in our country have money be an object when we're talking life and death!? Why do we pay into a 'for-profit'- system when our own health is at stake. Why not pay the same amount into a 'not-for-profit' system and end up with better and more available healthcare for everyone?

Under our system: money is made off of illness. Let me illustrate hypothetically, if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and don't work out... you're heart attack prone. If you wwalk into a Doctors office, he actually has no financial incentive in seeing you DON'T have a heart attack. It's actually more to their benefit if you do have a heart attack becasue that will insure more business. In the same case it's to the health insurance agency's financial benefit if you die from your heart attack so they won't have to pay recovery charges and hospital fees etc. etc...

That is not a Health System I would equate with a great country.

If we changed it, and all paid the same amount we're already paying into a 'not-for-profit' system, we could chane the rules. In the same hypothetical from above, we could place the financial incentive for the doctor to save you from ever having a heart attack. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol down through medication, start a wellness excercise regiment subsidized health club or facility and turn your health around. That would actually cost far less to the system then if you were to ever have a heart attack and need care for that. AND That doctor's pay would increase based on their record of prevention.

Do you see my point. Yes, it would mean a bigger government, it might mean more taxes too. But those costs would offset against how many trillions business in this country would save on health costs. It could jolt our economy and make the cost of doing business here a lot more feasable, especially for small business.

If you think about it, we're paying a ton of money into our healthcare system and percentage of that is going toward profits and dividends. Why not put that money into the healthcare system instead. Essentially we're eliminating the middle men and putting the money we already spend into the right places.

Answer 5

No Health Care is not a 'right' (and neither is housing for that matter). Our constitution does not provide for either. Why would we even WANT a government run health care system when the private sector can do things better and less expensively than our over inflated goverment?

Think about it--Americans trust their government run post office who work far less efficently than private carriers, despite the governments control over public education 3/4 of inner city kids can't read or write at grade level.....so why would anyone in their right mind think the goverment could run health care more efficiently and cheaper than the private sector? THEY CAN'T!

Yes, 35 million are without health insurance--but they are NOT without health care. Its called medical assistance-govt sponsored. Why would we scrap a system that performs at at least 85% efficiency to "save" the other 15% who are on federally funded programs and getting the SAME QUALITY health care?

The only health care 'crisis' in America is that people are foolish enough to listen to politicians who use it as an election tool. No one who is uninsured and in need of medical care is being turned away.

Answer 6

Healthcare is not a "right".The USA provides freedom from undue government oppression and control,education and opportunities. There is No guarantee anywhere on earth that individuals will enjoy a "successful "life, ideal job family material goods or good HEALTH.
..AS America was settled, states and the federal government did not provide housing, fuel,transportation (horses/train tickets/wagons) or medical/dental care. With freedom and opportunity comes responsibility.
..W/ Freedom--> an individual CAN CHOSE what is important,a desire, a necessity..AND What DECISIONS they will make to achieve their goals/need...
--->Bluntly put, the ability to chose to buy a plasma TV, $100 sneakers/sports jerseys,ski/fishing tripspricy car,ipod,premium tv channel"packages"... etc OR purchase a family health care plan (~$4,500* )if employer plans not available. IS A CHOICE . Many chose to risk or hope that they will never need medical care.knowing that they can receive "free" treatment at any ER.
...I do not believe that the government should provide or nationalize "health care"simply because it is abasic Human right. US Citizens are taxed to provide assistance fro the elderly,infirm,disabled and orphans.I believe that All other society members are responsible for their decisions and choices. The idea that people are suffering because they cant "see a Dr./ get care for their kids,...etc is based on political surveys and stats talken from hosp/med.providers that report raw # of patients that state they have no insurance. No reports correlate uninsured #'s with the individuals actual "life style, material possessions,..etc", employment, and reported versus actual income. Many routinely recive income (tips, of the books jobs etc) that are never reported so its extemely easy to find a "poor struggling Family" that cant "afford" to get medical care and want their needs provided at no cost .(by the way every state provides free immunizations to children of low income families...yet every year there are "outbreaks".
...In short, with our form of government, no amount of regulation or "free service" can alter an individuals decision as to how to handle their health issues. Every Human knows that they will need medical or dental help. Those that deny this fact would demand charity from others because they what ??didnt think ? figured it wouldnt matter since others will feel compelled to help ?? decided that other things/desires were more important? were psychic and new their fate didnt include a random toothache,or stumble that breaks a limb?
....I am at heart, a very charatible person, but I do have a problem with others who chose a life/life style that is focused on What I want, What can I get, and Why others need to "understand" that everyone makes mistakes /bad choices/ decisions/... Everyone's life has hard spots;Everyone makes mistakes . A decision to use ""difficulty as an excuse is invalid, irresponsible and lazy.Everyone will Not achieve great wealth,fame,the objects of their desire. Everyone has a responsibility to chose a path and work past or around the potholes and hope for a happy healthy life.

Answer 7

I feel that affordable, quality healthcare is a right in today's world. however I don't feel it's a right the government must provide but at the same time I think the government has a responsibility to offer some kind of healthcare to those who cannot afford it.

I also believe it is a responsibility to live a healthy lifestyle.
Promoting healthy lifestyles and taking preventative actions regarding health is an important part of the equation I think is missing from the current healthcare debate.

Answer 8

I don't believe it's a right, but I do believe it is the decent and moral thing for all people to have access to good healthcare. I also believe it makes sense in the long run from a purely financial standpoint if society provides for those who cannot provide for themselves. And as someone who both has healthcare and pays taxes, I can tell you I would be absolutely delighted to have part of my taxes go to providing healthcare for those who don't have it, even if it means a slighly higher tax burden.

One of my dearest friends is a firefighter and EMT. He happens to work in one of the cities in our area where the average income is much lower than the norm. An awful lot of what they do is stabilize tremendously sick people and get them to the hospital for treatment. A lot of the people in his area are the elderly, or the working poor who work ridiculous hours but aren't able to get healthcare for themselves and their families. How much does a ride in his ambulance cost? About $500. Who pays for that? The people who need to be transported don't have the resources, so it's passed along to others in the form of taxes (for the EMT services and ambulance rides) and higher healthcare costs (for the actual treatment in the hospital). A simple respiratory infection, which I, with healthcare, can have treated for a $25 office visit and $30 worth of antibiotics, ends up costing the rest of us thousands of dollars when it hits a person with no healthcare who ends up in the hospital with double pneumonia. And it's more likely to hit that person in the first place because he or she doesn't have adequate nutrition or access to basic healthcare like a simple pneumovax vaccine which will keep them healthy in the first place.

I know that some argue that providing healthcare makes lazy people lazier, and gives them an out to not work and try to provide for themselves. And I know very well that there are those who abuse the programs put in place to help those who fall through the cracks in the system. I don't believe that they are in the majority, though.

I think there is a lot of truth in the idea that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable and needy citizens. When judged by those standards, I think the US is falling short.

(By the way, you might be interested to know that where I live, self-insurance for healthcare averages around $450-$500 a month for a family of four, and the coverage is not very good. If you are self-employed, and making $70K a year, you can afford that, but a lot of the people who are faced with the choice of self-insuring or going without are making about $24K a year, which means they simply cannot keep food on the table and clothing on their childrens' bodies if they opt for self-insurance. No one should be faced with the choice of healthcare or food, especially not in a wealthy industrialized society like ours.)

Answer 9

I don't understand the attacks at looking at our health care system. Why? Because there is an assumption of either keeping what we have or total government control, which, is not quite true. Massachusetts is an excellent example. They did not get rid of employer based health care, just, started a new program to offer different levels of health care to those that required it, for, a fee. Our health care system is a bit out of control, with, no end in sight, so, it is appropriate to look carefully at alternatives to our present system.

Answer 10

Does everybody desire to take heed to what a pair of the Founding Fathers ought to assert in this subject count? "If Congress can do in spite of of their discretion could be completed via funds, and could sell the final Welfare, the government is not a constrained one, possessing enumerated powers, yet an indefinite one...." --James Madison "Congress has not countless powers to grant for the final welfare yet in elementary terms those specifically enumerated." --b9ece18c95afbfa6bfdbfa4ff731d3homas Jefferson "...[T]he government of the U. S. is a distinctive government, constrained to distinctive gadgets. that is not in elementary terms like the state governments, whose powers are extra regular. Charity is not any component of the legislative duty of the government." --James Madison "each and every individual of the society has a suitable to be secure via it interior the delight in his existence, liberty, and property, in accordance to status regulations. he's obliged, for this reason, to make contributions his share to the cost of this secure practices; and to grant his very own provider, or an equivalent, whilst mandatory. yet no component of the valuables of somebody can, with justice, be taken from him, or utilized to public makes use of, with out his very own consent, or that of the representative physique of the individuals. In high-quality, the individuals of this commonwealth at the instant are not controllable via the different regulations than those to which their constitutional representative physique have given their consent."--John Adams, b9ece18c95afbfa6bfdbfa4ff731d3houghts on government, 1776 b9ece18c95afbfa6bfdbfa4ff731d3hough not a founding father, today, right here is an exciting theory: An imbalance between wealthy and unfavorable is the oldest and maximum deadly ailment of all republics."-Plutarch

Answer 11

I don't believe it is a right, but I do believe it makes economic sense. Why pass the burden of health care to your employer? Most people only pay about 50% of premiums . . . while leaving the other 50% to corporate America. Also, it would make investment much easier if new business didn't have to factor this expense into start-up costs. It would make large corporations more competitive on the global market because it would reduce over all payroll expenses. Response - Actually they are once they have 35 or more employees. Federal Law. Have you ever owned a business? Would you work for a company that did not provide basic benefits . . . Get a clue.