Health Care Should Not be a Right

Health Care

There is a loud argument coming from many different people. While one group believes that health care is a right, the other argues that it is a privilege. This argument has recently come to a head because of the recent debates in Washington as to whether or not the United States needs health care reform in the form of a public option. Those who argue this point believe it is the government’s (U.S. tax payer’s) responsibility to cover the cost of their health care expenses. I myself believe that health insurance is a privilege, and that the last thing we need is more government control over our lives.

First of all, health care is not a right. One cannot argue that it is a right because it does not currently exist in our national law. A right1 is: an entitlement to something. Entitlement is the functioning noun for the root word entitle (v). Entitle1 is: to furnish with proper grounds for seeking or claiming something. In other words, to give one what one is due (for different reasons). Therefore, an entitlement1 is the thing due to someone or a group of people. Hence, because health care does not exist in our current national law as a right, Obama got it correct when he said, “Well, I think it should be a right for every American”2 (emphasis added). If health care should be a right, then it should be provided to everyone. So, if everyone were to rely on the private sector for their health insurance needs, then, the private sector would eventually go broke and out of business. Therefore, in order to ensure this supposed right of the people, the government must provide for the insurance needs of the citizens.

Now, to determine whether or not health care should be a right that the government (U.S. tax payer) should pay for, we first have to define what it is the government (U.S. tax payer) would be paying for. The government would be paying for your (and everyone else’s) health care through government run health insurance. Health1 is: the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor: good health; poor health. Health Care1 is: the field concerned with the maintenance or restoration of the health of the body or mind. Insurance1 is: coverage by contract in which one party agrees to indemnify or reimburse another for loss that occurs under the terms of the contract. Therefore, health insurance1 is: compensation of expenses incurred by the insured because of medical reasons, as through illness or hospitalization. Health care and health insurance, although they are two different things are uniquely intertwined. While health care can exist without health insurance, health insurance cannot exist without health care.