Is Health Care a Right?

Somewhere along the way during the past few decades, so many Americans have adopted the belief that providing health care is not up to the individual—it is the responsibility of my employer or the government to provide it, manage it, and maybe even pay for much of it. It’s an enticing belief that sounds really good at first glance—if I’m sick, I should be taken care of, right? If millions of people don’t have the care they need, surely it must be someone’s good-natured responsibility to fix the situation.

Where did this thought process come from? Most of us don’t think in these terms in other areas of life. I take it upon myself to provide food for me and my family—I don’t expect my employer or George Bush to feed me. I don’t look to the government to give me a house or a car, but I sure need those things to have a good life. Health care is not much different. Yes, it would be great for everyone to have affordable health insurance and to have cheap access to all the care they need, but it is not up to others to meet that need for every citizen; it’s up to each individual. The more the government, with its unnecessary, restrictive regulations and mismanagement, can get out of the way, the more the individuals of America will be able to provide for these needs.

The whole idea of health care being a right for everyone is based on a faulty premise. I love what I heard Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, say about this concept on a recent radio show. He pointed out that true “rights” in America—rights such as the freedom of speech and the freedom to travel where I wish—do not impose an obligation on someone else. For example, because of our First Amendment, I can say most anything I want in public without fear of imprisonment, but I can’t demand that someone buys me a microphone and rents an auditorium for me. In the truest sense, health care is not a right because it imposes on others the requirement to provide money to pay for it.

I hate to think that anyone has to remain sick because they can’t afford to go to the doctor, but if we demand that everyone has the right to health insurance even if they can’t pay for it, where will it stop? As with welfare, the solution is not for the government to reach into my pocket to pay for someone else’s health care—it’s for government to get out of the way and to lessen, not increase, the tax burden on all of us so the economy will grow. As the economy grows, more people will be able to afford health coverage. This is a long-range approach and it will take time living out this philosophy before great results are seen. But I have no doubt that over time, more and more Americans will be able to afford the care they need—especially when this philosophy is coupled with elements such as the advancement of health savings accounts, an increase in common sense in the tort courtroom, etc.

“But what happens between now and then? Thousands could suffer or die without the health care they need.” Very doubtful. In this compassionate country we live in, hospitals around the country regularly treat the uninsured in critical situations. As government loosens its grip on my paycheck, charities and organizations that assist those with needs will be better funded (by individuals) and more able to help the uninsured.

My goal in a healthy health care system is not to see the uninsured and under-insured suffer without help. It’s to see a long-range plan developed that will work efficiently in our economy without being dependent on tax dollars flying out of my paycheck and yours.