Call Health Care What It Is: A Basic Human Right

For those seeking a guiding principle (this sounds much better than "sound bite") for health care reform here it is: "Health care is a basic human right."

Or put another way: "As members of American society, we have a fundamental right to health care."

It is striking how little discussion there has been of health care as a right. While discussions about the cost of health care are crucial, health care needs to be embraced as a right and not simply a commodity. Any and all decisions must be viewed through this rights-based perspective: Does a decision/policy promote or impede a right to health care?

While rights are not limitless, there are basic standards. For example, as a society, we understand the right to education, and that our government has a responsibility to ensure a basic level of public education. This doesn't mean that private options, eg. private schools/universities are not an important part of our educational system. But we would not think about doing away with the "public school option." Similarly, we understand and insist that our government provide for national defense. Maximizing the health of our citizens, which includes access to high quality health care, is nothing less than a matter of national security. You never hear the expression "socialized defense."

Hopefully, President Obama and all of our elected officials will frame the crucial need for health care reform as nothing less than the realization of a basic right and in so doing remind us all what is at stake.

Comments

[IrishMale]

Health care is NOT a right. Good lord people. Rights are rules that exist that protect you FROM the government.

Education, roads, any of the infrastructure you count on, just because they're available and publicly funded doesn't make them rights. They're programs, no more and no less.

Please, I'm not picking nits here. If we lose the clear definition of "rights" it takes us down a really scary path.

[mamalisa38]

For profit health insurance is immoral. The only way to maximize profits, and that's what Wall Street demands, is to raise premiums and deductibles and deny claims. Single payer is the only answer to our health care crisis.

[lordjin]

fanned.

Obama longs for a more just American society. Even in the face of my many (often harsh) criticisms of the president, I do believe this to be true.

you have phrased the argument in a powerfully compelling manner that should resonate with all who have a sense of ethical responsibility for themselves and their fellows. If we take heed to this irrefutable message, it could mean nothing less than a direct bridge to an improved society that takes seriously the boundless potential of compassion.

[RMankovitz]

I presume the author of this article meant that "access to the medical industry" is a fundamental right.

Often, rights are paired with responsibilities. Let's take a look at our responsibilities. I believe that each of us has a personal responsibility to provide health care for our body. After all, if we damage our body, where will we live?

My definition of this form of health care is a personal obligation to:

Ensure that we only put things in and on our body that nature intended;

Detoxify our body (and mind) on a regular basis to eliminate toxins, using natural protocols; and

Create a healthy living environment that supports our body in ways that nature intended.

Of course, in order to accomplish the above, each of us needs to be educated as to what contributes to our health, and what deteriorates it. I have not found meaningful answers to these questions from the medical establishment.

Instead, I spent decades researching what nature intended for us as a species, to maintain our health. After all, she evolved us. The results of this study are quite shocking and look nothing like what many in the medical industry would have you believe.

Those who have adopted nature as a template for wellness are experimenting with a program designed to prevent and possibly reverse illness. One objective is to avoid the need for "access to the medical industry", except for accident and injury treatment.

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com

[RMankovitz]

I presume the author of this article means that "access to the medical establishment" is a fundamental right. Rights usually are paired with responsibilities. Let's take a look at our responsibilities.

I believe that each of us has a personal responsibility to provide health care for our body. After all, if we damage our body, where will we live?

My definition of this form of health care is a personal obligation to:

Ensure that we only put things in and on our body that nature intended;

Detoxify our body (and mind) on a regular basis to eliminate toxins, using natural protocols; and

Create a healthy living environment that supports our body in ways that nature intended.

Of course, in order to accomplish the above, each of us needs to be educated as to what contributes to our health, and what deteriorates it. I have not found answers to these questions from the medical establishment. Instead, I spent decades researching what nature intended for us as a species, to maintain our health. After all, she evolved us. The results of this study are quite shocking and look nothing like what the medical establishment would have you believe.

Those who have adopted nature as a template for wellness are experimenting with programs designed to prevent and possibly reverse illness. The objective is to avoid the need for "access to the medical establishment", except for accident and injury treatment.

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com

[bethinCary]

http://healthcare.kucinich.us/petition/


Sign Kucinich' petiton for healthcare as a CIVIL RIGHT-over a COMMODITY to be bought and sold by insurance via govt subsidies/mandates..
(taxation without representation)

[Pyrum]

No, let's call "health care" what it really is in this context: "medical care." Then let's admit medical care is not a basic human right.

[bethinCary]

it pertains to your life---and the mainatnace of that "life" is healthcare..
Thsi is how every other country views their healthcare system..
(au contrare is not a "socialist" thing.)

We pay policemen to protect human "life"-and it's paid for for by govt..We pay for infrastructure controls on things like energy, telco, water, FDA...
So why would we do all of these things to protect the "LIFE" of human beings as a right--yet pertaining to the individual "personhood" itslef on helath choices: OUTSOURCE it to corporations for profit???

[Jordana Jacobs]

I was just wondering what exactly you feel is the difference between "health care" and "medical care?" It sounds like you are harping on semantics, instead of examining the real issue at hand. However it is phrased, as health or medical care, I do agree with the article: Care in this regard is a basic human right.