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Is health care a basic right? Essay

Decent Essays

Is health care a basic right?
Can it be limited if the cost of providing unlimited treatment is prohibitive?
If so, should it be regarded as a commodity and limited by market mechanisms, or should it be rationed by government regulation? If not, how can the nation pay for it?
Health Care, like all other services comes at a financial cost. While we should strive to make health care available and affordable to all, the bottom line is that it is a service that can only be provided if the voting populous agrees on its need. Basic human rights do not cost money. We have the right to life and liberty which is great and we do not have to pay for it. We have the right to basic medical care as well. But we can only have that if other people …show more content…

In the worst case scenario the nation might probably go bankrupt if they do not regulate it. Thus health care should be limited if the cost of providing unlimited treatment is prohibitive.
Health care is an essential service "like education, clean water and air and protection from crime, all of which we already acknowledge are public responsibilities." Never mind that many Americans do not believe that public agencies are in fact providing adequate schooling, pollution control, and crime prevention. If we think health care is a right, then we should be appalled that the United States is the only western democracy whose citizens do not have universal access to health care. If you think health care is a commodity, then you should accept the fact that some of those without coverage will end up at the mercy of their hospital when the medical bills come due. Realizing that there is no free lunch when it comes to health care. That is why health care should be rationed by government regulations.
Hospitals are a local monopoly. The result is that hospitals may tend to monopolize their local area, consolidating or driving competitors out of business and then charging rent-extracting prices for their services. Given the basic necessity of healthcare services and the resulting political sensitivity of the issue, this is generally viewed as a Bad Thing. So government serves a role by treating hospitals like an airport,

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