Health Care is a Basic Human Right

June 26, 2017

When, oh when, are we going to value human life enough to provide single payer?

2 thoughts on “Health Care is a Basic Human Right”

  1. . . . when human beings take some self-responsibility for what they put in their mouths and for how much they move their bodies!! Then we can go to single payer. Until then, we shouldn’t have to subsidize people who choose sugar, processed foods and sit on the coach or in a chair all day!

    1. I appreciate your concerns, though they are rooted in misinformation in 2 ways:

      1. You and I and everyone else–society– already pays for others’ poor health choices. This is because the one and only right to healthcare we have in America is the right to not be turned away from an emergency room regardless of ability to pay. Thus, those without insurance (healthy habits or not) are cared for in our emergency rooms–the most expensive health care available. Study after study in the US (and all countries who provide basic health care to all citizens) shows that providing routine/ ordinary/ outpatient health care to all citizens is MUCH cheaper than ER care. Before you go suggesting we should eliminate even that right, remember, it does not behoove those of us who are insured to have to prove financial status to get help in an emergency.

      2. Those who are in good health often assume it’s because of something they did right. Certainly good habits tend to lead to better outcomes, but not inevitably. This completely leaves out accidents of birth and chance–how would you propose caring for a woman born with breast cancer genes, but no health insurance? How about the family exposed to toxic chemicals in drinking water due to commercial waste? How about a victim of a drunk driver? Further, the good habits of today become the bad habits of tomorrow. Look at smoking: until the 1970’s no one knew the health risks when they became addicted. Consider also, those who exercise regularly often have knees and feet and backs worn out at middle age. Why should the rest of us pay for any of that? I’ll tell you why…because we never know when it is going to be us. I have cared for many people like you–who didn’t deserve their diseases, but suffered nevertheless. Personal responsibility is only one aspect of lifelong health, and the person with the bad habits suffers the most.

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