So, Health Care is a Right?

Well, after some parliamentary shenanigans in the U.S. Congress and the stoke of the President's pen the American people now have a health care reform bill passed. Supporters say this legislation marks progress for the American people and opponents vow to fight for it's repeal. All in all, it's making for some interesting political theater. I can't wait to see if the 10% excise tax on tanning salons helps pay for the ten year, $940 billion price tag this bill is going to cost. What if people quit getting salon tans? Hm...

I have to admit that I've seen this day as a forgone conclusion for quit some time. With Medicare and Medicaid around since 1965 it would seem the obvious next step and I'm sure many wonder why its taken so long. When I've debated socialized medicine with my brother-in-law in the past he always made the point that we in deed have some form of it already with Medicare and Medicaid. I can't argue with that. And what is this health care reform if it's not socialized medicine? It's not universal care yet, but this is a giant step in that direction, right? So, unless the Republicans can actually do something to repeal the bill this is the new reality we deal with, and deal with it we will. Yet, there is something that just gets my hackles up (what's a hackle anyway?) when I hear it; that health care is a right.

Health care is a right! I don't think that I can square that with my understanding of a right. The concept of rights has been politicized and prostituted by politicians for so long that nailing down one cogent definition would seem impossible, yet let me give it a try anyway. Perhaps some remember that document penned by Thomas Jefferson called The Declaration of Independence. It states that: all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It further says: That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That's about as good a definition as one needs to understand one's rights as well as recognizing our government's role in respecting those rights. What we don't see enumerated here is the right to health care. Now, one could deduce from this definition that a person has the right to seek out health care without any interference; it's their life, their liberty and their pursuit of happiness. That logic fits well with Jefferson's definition of a right, right?

But, I have heard politicians, to include President Obama, say that health care is a right. How? Would not the right to health care demand medical professionals to give of their time, talent and resources to ensure this right? Wouldn't hospitals and clinics be forced to treat to ensure this right? And wouldn't the force of government need to be used to ensure the medical profession is honoring this right? Is it a right when it's motivated by the point of a gun? It would seem to me that if one's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness infringes on someone else right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness then someone isn't falling within the definition of a right put forth by The Declaration of Independence. I know that the founding documents are not held in great esteem by many politicians and still others use them only for their own gain, but most people understand that government mandate and force do not make something a right. I say to our politicians don't use rhetoric that diminishes and demeans the peoples rights just to get a bill passed. It's simply wrong. There's that general welfare clause found in section eight of our constitution that seems to work in every other instance, let's stick with that one and leave our rights alone.

The new reality of modern health care might include all the horrors mentioned by the opponents to this health care reform bill. One thing I'm sure of is that it will cost more than what the government has predicted and Americans will pay more for health care, either in taxes or in insurance costs. That stinks. We voted these suckers into office so we get what we deserve. I just don't think we deserve to have our intelligence insulted by calling health care a right. For the general welfare, sure people will buy it, but let's not redefine a right. That's a slippery slope we shouldn't continue down.