Healthcare Is Not A Right
With every new presidential election cycle, the debate over healthcare returns to the front burner of American politics. There is no question that we have major problems with the delivery of healthcare services to the uninsured and underinsured among us. A host of complex factors contribute to the problem, not the least of which are the changing nature of the relationship between employers and employees, and the increasing unwillingness of Americans to accept any degree of personal responsibility for the risks we face in life.
Sadly, the polarization of the electorate has made it more and more difficult to debate practical, effective, and affordable solutions to the problem. What we get instead are slogans designed to inflame the passions of one group or another. While both sides contribute equally to the breakdown of civil discourse, the most insidious statement on the issue of healthcare always comes from the left. Every four years, without fail, some democratic presidential candidate will proclaim that “healthcare is a basic human right.” This kind of statement is either the worst form of political pandering imaginable, or it demonstrates an incredible ignorance on the part of the speaker. Either way, it only serves to make meaningful debate more difficult.
Our founding fathers had a clear understanding of the inherent nature of rights, and of the fundamental difference between rights and entitlements. They understood that the pursuit of happiness was an individual quest, and that the outcome was not guaranteed by any government program or agency. They recognized that by exercising our right to freedom of expression, no cost or burden is imposed on any other individual or group.
When we declare that healthcare is a right, however, we automatically create a corresponding obligation on someone else’s part to provide it. Supporters of a right to healthcare will simply claim that this responsibility belongs to the government, as if the answer is so obvious as to require no further explanation. When we look beyond this simplistic answer, however, we realize that healthcare services aren’t actually provided by the government, but by highly trained, highly skilled individuals who choose to make their living as healthcare providers. The only role the government can play is to tax its citizens to pay these providers for their services.
Now we must assume that the millions of individual healthcare providers in this country would continue to offer their services under a government controlled system. Without their cooperation, no government program could function, and it is simply foolish to assume that there would be no change in the quality or quantity of medical services available under government control. A significant number of older individuals would elect early retirement, while younger professionals could opt to change careers. In the short term, however, many providers would be locked in by their years of training and experience, and have no choice but to participate in a government run system. The one option that many of these individuals could and would exercise is to significantly reduce the number of hours they are willing to work as government employees or contractors. This can only lead to shortages and rationing of healthcare services.
In the longer term, the situation would be dramatically different. Faced with less freedom of choice and diminished earning potential, fewer young people would opt for careers in healthcare in the first place. Our best and brightest students would seek out other career fields, and admission standards in our medical schools would be lowered as a result. The percentage of foreign trained doctors would also rise, as American students seek out more desirable career fields. In the UK today, after six decades of nationalized healthcare, roughly 40% of practicing physicians are foreign born and trained. The fact that these foreign doctors represent 150 different nationalities raises legitimate concerns about the quality and consistency of their medical training, and the language skills required to communicate with their patients.
If healthcare is a right, then someone must be responsible for providing it. When our healthcare professionals are not willing to deliver their services under a government controlled plan, what options do we have to ensure that this right is not violated? Do we draft our brightest students into medical schools and require them to render their services in the name of preserving our rights? Does our right to healthcare entitle us to trample the rights of our healthcare providers?
Proclaiming a basic human right when none exists only serves to make a productive debate less likely. We cannot hope to solve our problems without rational civil discourse. Healthcare is clearly not a right, but it is a fundamental necessity, and it must be viewed as such if we are to solve the problem.
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