Health Care is Not a Right!

How far has political rhetoric sunk, when intelligent human beings believe that the best of medical care can delivered to all citizens, in what they refer to as a "right" of every American to quality health care, as Barrack Obama has said.

Just where, exactly, does this right come from?

Certainly not the same place as the "unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," as those, we believe, come from God. So does God give us the "right to free health care?" No, because if you believe that, then you must believe that people in Bangladesh are entitled to the same quality health care as Americans have come to expect. Further, to believe Bengladeshians have a right to health care, you must believe, that the wealthy countries must provide money to pay for it. It may be hard to believe, but many in this world actually think America should provide health care and other services to poor countries.

But isn't it, or at least shouldn't it, be a right for all Americans to have access to the best health care? 

To answer that question, we need to define what it means to have a right. "Rights" were first laid out in the Declaration of Independence, which disavowed the notion that the King has dominion over their subjects, but rather, God gives each of us intrinsic value, "certain unalienable rights," that can not be denied by any other man (or woman) on earth. 

Rights were further enumerated in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to our Constitution. Basically, the Bill of Rights are a contract between the people and government and they outline the power people are willing to give to a government. It is important to know, that none of these rights, cost any citizen any money. They are free of charge. Why? Because these rights are based on human freedom as outlined in the Preamble of the Bill of Rights about the concern for potential "abuse of powers."

So does health care constitute a right? It is not "given from God", nor does it apply to human freedom and the relationship between all the people and their government. In fact, the opposite is true, a right to health care for one takes away the right of freedom to another. Therefore, health care is not a right, but rather a "proposed entitlement." Politicians are pushing health care for every American because we live in the richest country in the world, they argue, and the least we can do is provide health care for every American.

Before we begin the debate of taking money from one group of "wealthy" citizens and giving it to another group of  "poor" citizens, it is important to begin the debate with accurate terminology. 

Health care for all is not a right, it is a welfare program. Once we pass a law to provide quality health care for every citizen (or non-citizen), we create an entitlement. Entitlements cost an ever increasing amount of money, and as with all entitlements, the cost estimates are always less than the actual costs.

Quality health care for all is a very costly endeavor, and it is never a good idea to begin a costly conversation with the lie that "health care is a right."