Is health care a right or a a privilege?

Answer 1

In the USA a privilege, in almost every other industrialized nation a right.

Answer 2

Neither. Is dinner a right or a privilege? The questions are the same. I could also put nearly any noun in place of the words 'health care' and the answer would be the same.

Edit in response the the comment about going bankrupt after cancer, etc: Insurance for MAJOR medical expenses is VERY affordable. Health care plans that pay for EVERYTHING (I refuse to call them insurance) are what no one can afford.

Answer 3

Health care is a privilege, one that needs to be paid for like anything else worth having. The problem is we've decided you shouldn't really have to pay for it, and have put insurance companies in charge of our health. If there were no insurance companies, there would be healthcare available for all price ranges, not the ridiculous overcharging we have going on now.

Answer 4

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It is a service... Attaching the words like right or privilege politicizes the issue. You might as well as is telephone service a right or privilege, or low gas prices, or maybe safe streets.

Keep the government out and let the system fix itself. It is an abused system, rampent with silly lawsuits and prescription drug abuse. Do you really think the govt can do better. No way. Let it fix itself. Americans are too impatient.

Answer 5

Robert S makes an interesting point. Here in NC telephone service is, for all practical purposes, a right. Bellsouth is required to provide basic service at rates established by the state. They are trying to get that restriction removed but it looks like they are not going to succeed. In short, you can get basic phone service for less than twelve bucks a month.

Now, it seems to me that affordable healthcare is far more important to regulate than mere telephone service. One family in seven has no health insurance and insufficent income to fund it. The USA spends more on healthcare than anywhere else in the world, yet its results are not really that much more impressive. Although there will always be individual cases which demonstrate the worst in any system, the plain truth of the matter is that it costs the average British worker over one third less in taxes for healthcare than it costs the equivalent American worker in taxes and health insurance.

Healthcare is, indeed, a right. It is also good economic sense. A healthy nation produces more than a sick one. It is time for universal healthcare and it is time to make prevention measures mandatory rather than optional. Myt wife is an RN and works as a telenurse. Her job is to monitor patients for health insurance companies and encourage them to take responsibility for their health. Not the responsibility the President talks about (= higher costs for the working stiff) but working with healthcare providers to prevent illness and improve general health and wellbeing. The UK realized all this over sixty years ago and created the National Health Service. I am not saying that is best for the USA but we need to do something that is as fair as possible to everyone, not just a few select corporations and their political lackeys.

Answer 6

I had never though of this before I read smartsassysabrinas message. An awesome idea. No more health insurance, so the prices have to be fair or the medical community will go under. Except it probably won't everyone will just end up having to file bankrupty after cancer or something.

We need to have health insurance that is available for everyone, on a sliding scale basis... wait, we already do!

Look for your states fhiap (family health insurance assistance program) website and sign up. They will cover up to 95% of the cost of insurance, based on your family size and income.

Answer 7

Proper health care is a right for everyone in this country. If we can send billions and trillions of dollars overseas for whatever reason, we can certainly see to it that all citizens of this country has decent health and dental care.

Answer 8

It's a right when you pay for it and a privilege when you don't.

Answer 9

It is a privilege, sadly. I feel it should be a right. But, in this country if you can't afford it, you can't get it.

Answer 10

It is a right that many people are deprived of.