

Should All Americans Have a Right to Health Care Coverage Essay Example
Introduction
The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and some 45 million Americans are uninsured under the current health care system, and these numbers continue to grow. However with universal health care coverage everyone could enjoy equal access to health care, as a right afforded to them as American citizens.
In a country as wealthy as the United States, there is no justifiable reason why Americans should go without health care and/or die needlessly due to lack of health insurance coverage. In this paper I will explore several reasons why our nation is uninsured and how using the utilitarianism approach of a single-payer system will solve this ethical problem within our society. Next I will apply the contrasting view of the ethical egoism perspective regarding hea
...lth care as right to all citizens in America.
Finally I will choose between the utilitarianism and the ethical egoism perspective to revel which of the two is closest to my own views regarding this emotionally charged ethical issue. Classical Theory Utilitarianism Individuals who agree that healthcare should be provided as a right to all American citizens often argues their case by interrupting articles of the constitution that they feel most support their argument. All Americans should have a right to health care because the Declaration of Independence states that all men have the unalienable right to "Life," which entails having the health care needed to preserve life.
Health care is a right for all Americans because the Preamble of the US Constitution states its purpose is to "promote the general welfare" of the people. Just as al
Americans have the right to an education, they should have the right to health care because they both "promote the general welfare. "Health care is a human right. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one's family, including... medical care. All Americans should have the right to health care as do citizens of other nations. The United States is one of the few, if not the only, developed nation in the world that does not guarantee health coverage for its citizens. Ensuring that all Americans have the right to health care will decrease health care costs by allowing people to receive regular and preventive medical care and not wait until they are chronically ill to seek treatment when medical costs are much higher. Providing all citizens the right to health care is good for economic productivity.
When people have access to health care, they live healthier and longer lives, thus allowing them to contribute to society for a longer time. The cost of bad health and shorter life spans of Americans suffering from uninsurance amounts to $65-130 billion annually. Lacking health care can lead people to suffer from anxiety, depression, sickness, and stress, and other symptoms that affect not only individuals, but families and communities of that individual as well. Health care costs are unaffordable and bankrupting Americans. In 2007, 62. % of all US bankruptcies were related to medical expenses and 78% of these bankruptcies were filed by people who had medical insurance. Guaranteeing the right to health care will encourage entrepreneurship,
which is good for job creation. Currently people are afraid to start their own business for fear of losing the health insurance provided at their existing job. Health care should be a right because it will promote equal opportunity by decreasing the number of people who are economically disadvantaged in society due to bad health and medically-related financial trouble.
Health care services are crucial to the functioning of a community, just like trash and water services, and should therefore be guaranteed like these services are to all Americans. The right to health care should be considered a civil right. People should not be discriminated against for being sick. Americans who are ill should not have to make the choice between financial ruin or paying for the medical treatments they need to stay alive. Coverage of all Americans would best counter or contain the spreading of epidemics such as the H1N1 flu (swine flu) or smallpox. ProCon. org 2013, April 12). Currently the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and some 45 million Americans are uninsured under the current health system, these numbers continues to grow. Using the theory of an Utilitarianism perspective and developing a single-payer system such as universal health care all Americans could enjoy equal access to quality health care. The single-payer system will provide tools to manage health spending more effectively and ensure health care for everyone.
If the United States would follow the blueprint of other developed nations who have successfully implemented universal health care coverage it would protect citizens from high medical premiums, co-payments and give everyone access to equal health care.
In the United States people go without health coverage, it is a problem that needs to be resolved, yet we remain one of the last developed countries to implement universal health care coverage. Despite efforts to enact polices for universal health care, we remain the single industrialized nation whose citizens are not guaranteed the right to health care. Gorin ;Moniz, 2004). According to Angell, (2003) “some 42 million American are uninsured- disproportionate the sick, the poor, and minorities—and most the rest of us are underinsured. In sum, our health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate”. The gap between those who are insured and uninsured continue to grow, according to a recent study from (United States Census Bureau, 2013) “In 2011, the percentage of people without health insurance has grown to 48. 6 million”.
The primary cause of the growth in the uninsured population is due to employment based coverage, because of the economy slowed and unemployment increase, the uninsured population grew because of this shift in health insurance coverage from the private to public sector the governments’ growing burden in health care cost has increase. Yet health care cost continues to rise without restriction that could be put into place with universal health care coverage, using the single – payer system.
Health care should be considered a fundamental right and protected under the constitution, it is ethically wrong for people to continue to suffer the above statics as citizens of America. The current health care system is structured on an individual’s ability to pay and preexisting conditions may preclude insurance coverage (sykora, 2010) and high administrative costs and excessive- and even ridiculous
– prices under the current system are themselves symptoms of the increasing commercialization of health care and the growing dominance of private firms in health care delivery and financing.
Health care premiums continue to climb disproportionately to economic growth, making health insurance unaffordable for small business and individuals. Businesses offering health care plans pass on much of the cost to its employees, many of whom are opting not to pay for coverage, due to constant rising cost. Implementing universal health care would cut administrative costs and mandating reasonable pricing would result in very large one-time savings and allow an affordable transition to comprehensive coverage of the un- and under- insured. PNHP, 2013) By following the blueprint of other developed counties, such as Taiwan who has successfully implemented Universal health care coverage using the single-payer system as a means to fund the health program that now covers all their citizens. The single-payer system would provide the United States with tools to manage health spending more effectively and provide all citizens with equal access to quality health care services, regardless of income (Lu ; Hsiao 2003).
According to (Rachel, 2003) a five year period after the implement of universal health care they find that Taiwan’s single-payer NHI system enabled Taiwan to manage health spending inflation. Single – Payer health insurance collects all medical fees, and then pays for all services through “single” government (or government-related) source in wealthy nations, this kind of publicly managed insurance is typically extended to all citizens and legal residents.
The results of single – payer system and the amount of saving largely offset the incremental cost of covering the
previously uninsured, under universal health care coverage now gives equal access to health care to their citizens, greater financial risk protection from high health care cost, and equal health care financing. This show the pros of developing universal heal care coverage and that it is in fact a possibility for the U. S. to developing the same type of policy regarding universal health care. Rachel, 2003) Universal health care is typically managed by a government agency on a single payer system, which provides a means to manage rising health spending, such as, administrative cost, reduction of fraudulent claims, overcharge, duplication of service and test, and so on; one government one uniform reporting procedure and claim filing system, which greatly reduces transaction cost and negotiated fee schedules under global budget, (Lu ; Hsiao, 2003) resulting in affordable or free health care to every American.
Contrasting Ethical Egoism Perspective Not everyone believe health care should be an American citizen’s right, A commit made by congressman Edolphus Towns- certainly did not set well with those who oppose health care as being an American right, Towns stated, “Healthcare is a fundamental right, not a privilege,” He offers no argument for this, but states merely, “This is what we learned last month when the United States Supreme Court upheld key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” a. k. a. ObamaCare (Towns, 2012).
Those opposing congress Towns’ perspective of healthcare being a fundamental right, often gives the following argument as to why healthcare is not an American right. Health care should not be a right because it is inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence, which guarantees
the right to “Pursue “happiness, not the right to happiness or free medical service. Health care should not be considered a right because the Preamble of the US Constitution states that its purpose is to “Promote” the general welfare, not to provide it.
Health care should not be considered a right because it is not listed in the bill of Rights in the US Constitution. The Bill of Rights lists people’s rights that the government cannot infringe upon; not services or material goods that the government must ensure for the people. It is the individual’s responsibility, not that of the government’s, to ensure personal health. Diseases and health problems, such as obesity, cancer, stroke, and diabetes can often be prevented by individuals choosing to live healthier lifestyles. No one should be entitles to health care because it is a service and a material good that a person must pay for to obtain.
Let us examine why health care is not a right, nor should it ever be, if we were to apply these concerns to our everyday lives then perhaps it will help to facilitate a better understanding for both sides on the issue. Most people who oppose socialized medicine do so on the ground that it is a moral and well-intended, but impractical. The term “rights,” note, is a moral (not just a political) term, it tells us that a certain course of behavior is right, sanctioned, proper, a prerogative to be respected by others, not interfered with—and that anyone who violates a man’s rights is : wrong, morally wrong, unsanctioned, evil.
Now our only rights, the American viewpoint continues, are
the rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. That is all. According to the Founding Fathers, we have these specific rights—and only these. Notice that all legitimate rights have one thing in common: they are rights to action, not to rewards from other people. The American rights impose no obligations on other people, merely the negative obligation to leave you alone. The system guarantees you the chance to work for what you want—not to be given it without effort by somebody else.
The right to life, e. g. , does not mean that your neighbors have to feed and clothe you; it means you have the right to earn your food and clothes yourself, if necessary by a hard struggle, and that no one can forcibly stop your struggle for these things or steal them from you if and when you have achieved them. In other words: you have the right to act, and to keep the results of your actions, the products you make, to keep them or to trade them with others, if you wish. But you have no right to the actions or products of others, except on terms to which they voluntarily agree.
To take one more example: the right to the pursuit of happiness is precisely that: the right to the pursuit—to a certain type of action on your part and its result—not to any guarantee that other people will make you happy or even try to do so. Otherwise, there would be no liberty in the country: if your mere desire for something, anything, imposes a duty on other people to satisfy you, then
they have no choice in their livesm no say in what they do, they have no liberty, they cannot pursue their happiness. Your right to anything at other’s expense means that they become right less. This is why the U.
S. system defines rights as it does, strictly as the right to action. This was the approach that made the U. S. the first truly free country in all world history—and, soon afterwards, as a result, the greatest country in history, the richest and the most powerful. It became the most powerful because its view of rights made it the most moral. It was the county of individualism and personal independence. Today, however, we are seeing the rise of principled immorality in this county. We are seeing a total abandonment by the intellectuals and the politicians of the moral principles on which the U.S. was founded. We are seeing the complete destruction of the concept of rights. The original American idea has been virtually wiped out, ignored as if it had never existed. The rule now is for politicians to ignore and violate men/women’s actual rights, while arguing about a whole list of rights never dreamed of in this country’s founding documents—rights which require no earning, no effort, no action at all on the part of the recipient. You are entitled to something, the politicians say, simply because it exists and you want or need it—period.
You are entitled to be given it by the government. Where does the government get it from? What does the government have to do to private citizens—to their individual rights—to their real rights—in order to carry out
the promise of showering free services on the people? The answers are obvious. The new fangles rights wipe out real rights—and turn the people who actually create the goods and services involved into servants of the state. The Russians tried this exact system for many decades. Unfortunately, we have not learned from their experience.
Yet the meaning of socialism is clearly evident in any field at all—you don’t need to think of health care as a special case; it is just as apparent if the government were to proclaim a universal right to food, or to a vacation, or to a haircut. I mean: a right in the new sense: not that you are free to earn these things by your own effort and trade, but that you have a moral claim to be given these things free of charge, with no action on your part, simply as handouts from a benevolent government. How would these alleged new rights be fulfilled?
Under the American system you have a right to health care if you can pay for it, i. e. , if you can earn it by your own action and effort. But nobody had the right to the services of any professional individual or group simply because he wants them and desperately needs them. The very fact that he needs these services so desperately is the proof that he had better respect the freedom, the integrity, and the rights of the people who provide them. You have a right to work, not to rob others of the fruits of their work, not to turn others into sacrificial, rightless animals laboring to fulfill
your needs.
Personal Views
My perspective regarding health care is based upon my personal life experience. By the end of this paper you may find my views somewhat surprising in relation to my experience. I do not have health coverage, nor do I qualify for medical assistance. I cannot work because I care for my adult daughter who is 100% disabled requiring 24/7 assistance, and while she is covered for medical care, as her parent I am not. About two years ago, I began to have discomfort in my neck and arms, and a period of time the discomfort turned in unbelievable pain. I went to the doctor who ordered an MRI and prescribed medication for the pain.
Without medical insurance I was unable to obtain the MRI until I was accepted by charity that was willing to file the paper work in such as way that allowed my not for profit program (Rehab through Horses) to be considered as my job, (which it is was, and I worked very hard helping others, I just did not get paid for doing it) with this fluffing of wording, the charity was able to assist me now that I meet their criteria for receiving assistance. The MRI was completed and my doctored said I would need surgery that my neck injury would most likely cause permanent damage if not treated properly and within a reasonable time period.
I was then put on a waiting list, (remind you I am in extreme pain and now on prescription medication for said pain) after about a year on a waiting list to see an neurosurgeon the
pain even with medication became unbearable, so I went to the hospital in an attempt to beg them to sped up the process. My ER doctor read my MRI and truly felt bad for the situation that I am in and made another referral to the same neurosurgeon and included my MRI results labeling the referral as urgent.
Within three days after my ER visit the Neurosurgeons office contacted me! I was so excited but the excitement was short lived until I realized the office was notifying me that my MRI was now out dated by six months, and until I received a new one I could not be seen by the neurosurgeon. I was so frustrated at this point and had no idea where to go from there, luckily the neurosurgeon office took pity on me and schedule an appointment with a not for profit clinic who would provide a MRI and then resend another referral to the neurosurgeons’ office.
My appointment to see the doctor who would schedule the MRI was set for four months away; at this point I have waited now well over a year for treatment, and even today as I write this paper I continue to wait. Conclusion Regardless of my personal medical needs my perspective falls within the ethical egoism arena, because it is not the responsibility of every taxes payer to pay for my medical care. I am very thankful to charities willing to help me, but I have no right to expect free medical treatment.
I believe in less government, therefore I cannot ask the government to step in and help me just
in this situation, and yet continue to discourage excessive government involvement in other personal rights areas; I simply have to choose a side and deal with the possible negative consequences.
Reference
- Gorin, S. , ; Moniz, C. (2004). Will the United States ever have universal health care? Health ; Social Work, 29(4). Retrieved from http://search. prpquest. com/docview/210559593? accountid=32521 Gruber, J. (2006).
- The Massachusetts health are revolution: A local start for universal access. The Hasting Center Report, 36(5), 14-9. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/222402479? accountid=32521 Holmes, D. (2012).
- Margaret Chan: Committed to universal health coverage. The Lancet, 380(987-879. Doi: http?? dx. doi. org/10. 1016/so140-6736(12) 61493-7 http://search. prpquest. com/docview/210559593? accountid=32521 Jui-Fen Rachel Lu and William C. Hsiao: Does Universal Health Insurance Make Health Care Unaffordable?
- Lessons From Taiwan Health Affairs, 22, no. (2003): 77-88 doi: 10. 1377/hlthaff. 22. 3. 77 present, and the future. American Journal of Public Health, 93(1), 16-9. Retrieved from http://search . proquest. com/docview/215097718? accountid=32521 ProCon. org. (2013, April 12).
- Right to Health Care ProCon. org. Retrieved from http://healthcare. procon. org/ United States Census Bureau- Health Insurance (2013)
- Data source on American’s health coverage 2012. Retrieved from http://www. census. gov/hhes/www/hlthins Stansbury A. (2013) Pa. advocates want single payer.
- Physicians For A National Health Program. Retrieved from http://www. pnhp. org Vladeck, B, (2003).
- Universal health insurance in the United States: Reflection on the past, the present, and the future. American Journal of Public Health, 93(1), 16-9. Retrieved from http://search . proquest. com/docview/215097718? accountid=3252 Towns E. (2012)
- Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. The hill’s Congress
Blog where lawmakers come to blog. Retrieve from. http://thehill. com/blogs/congree-blogs/healthcare/2336699-healthcare-is-a-right-not-a-privilegd
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