Is Healthcare a human right?

[Nebor]

We are not the rest of the world. Especially the 3rd world you describe.

You can't save everyone. It's not the way the world works. And we are just as much a part of the world as everyone else.

I seriously think the problem is caused by most of you not having the balls to tell people to FOAD to their face, and know that they're literally going to die. There are worse, more cruel fates in this world than dying. Get over yourself.

 

[Lithium381]

everyone is entitled to hand outs from uncle sam, it should be mandatory and free to receive healthcare in our country, regardless of if you're a smoker or if you even have a job.

 

[IGBT]

No. It's a personal responsibility. Not a taxpayer responsibility.

 

[Carmen813]

No. It's a service that highly trained professionals provide. To say that you're entitled to it marginalizes their efforts and worth. It's no different than saying hair cuts are a human right, or a personal accountant is a human right.

I've got a great way to slash health care costs. Hire a few people for $10\hr that stand outside hospital rooms and tell those who can't pay to FOAD.

Didn't realize that failing to get a hair cut or balancing my checkbook would kill me. I suggest you spend some time reviewing professional ethics codes. Part of being considered a professional is following them.

My personal stance is that I believe both physical and mental health care are a right, specifically when it comes down to life threatening ailments. Well, let me put it this way. I don't really care if it's a right or not. It should simply be a staple of a modern and human society to take care of the sick, I see putting money first in all situations as utterly depraved. Especially when individuals who are physically and mentally healthy are more than productive enough to offset the times when they are sick.

 

[Carmen813]

I think part of the problem here is that our country has become so pussy-fied that the thought of someone dying, due to pretty much anything, but certainly something that they percieve as "preventable," causes little bleeding hearts everywhere to quiver and cry.

People die. Poor people die first. It's the way of the world. In most of the world, you can still die from looking at someone the wrong way. Life is cheap. Yours, as an American, is substantially more valuable, but not priceless.

Simply because that is the way things are does not mean that is they way they need to be. It's called progress.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Is health care a human right? No, because you cannot have a "right" if someone else loses their rights by virtue of being obligated to provide it. You don't have a "right to enslave others".

Now, that doesn't mean that it isn't a desirable thing to have and that our government shouldn't provide it and that socialized medicine isn't the best or most efficient way to provide it. Just that it isn't a "right".

The way to argue for socialized medicine is not to say that people have a "right to health care". Rather, the way to argue for it is to argue that it is a good thing to have and that it is more efficient and less expensive than free market health care and that it is in the rational selfish interest of everyone who is not part of the top 5% of the population.

Many of the things we have and want are not "rights" and do in fact end up violating other people's rights by forcing them to pay for it--public education, public roads, etc. By living in our society you have to give up certain rights (such as your right to have private ownership of your own nuclear weapons) and your to be free of government regulation in economic affairs. If you really want your rights then you need to purchase and relocate to a deserted island. If you want to enjoy a high quality of life and civilization and to live in close proximity to other people then you have to give up some of your natural rights.

 

[chusteczka]

Those of you arguing about "rights" may be interested in learning more about them.

Wikipedia - Positive and Negative Rights
Wikipedia - Claim Rights and Liberty Rights

 

[werepossum]

Those of you arguing about "rights" may be interested in learning more about them.

Wikipedia - Positive and Negative Rights
Wikipedia - Claim Rights and Liberty Rights

Obama has expounded about positive versus negative rights. It's one of the things about him that most scares me. If he succeeded in enshrining into law his concept of "positive rights" - what the government is obliged to do on your behalf - then we will have no rights at all as government will be justified in trampling your "negative rights" in order to provide others their "positive rights."

 

[onlyCOpunk]

It's not so much about it being a right, it's about a country being able to take care of its people. From what I've seen, the US doesn't do a very good job of taking care of its people.