Saturday, August 22, 2009

Is Health Care a right?

There are ethical/moral reasons for suggesting


From a bioethicist's point of view health care is a right because

The community argument:

When one lives in a community(your state, your country) me
mbers of that community must believe that every member of that community is deserving of health care. It is the ethical/moral thing to do. The ethical argument then suggests that universal health care is the way to go to reform health care. If not universal health care, then there MUST be government participation (not takeover) to provide care to those people who can't afford private care.

Therefore the matter must be resolved through an ethical framework.

Ethics refers to determining right and wrong in how humans relate to one another. Ethical decision making for health care reform then would require human beings to act in consideration of our relationships to each other not our own individual interests.

Examination of some of the common ethical decision making theories can provide a foundation for a different perspective than one that is solely concerned with individual rights and freedoms.

And the ethical/moral solution does not mean we have to give up all our individual rights and freedoms. It does not mean we give up our capitalist society and turn into a socialist nation.

One look at the Medicare provision of health care in this country (U.S) tells us that we chose health care built on that ethical/moral framework way back in the 1960s and we didn't turn into a socialist state.

Non-maleficence (doing no evil), human dignity and the sanctity of life are three values upon which questions of ethics/morals are based.
airs Sunday August 30 9o'clock


Iowa Gardening Woman said...

I hope LOTS of people agree with you, I know I do. Great post.

Putz said...

of course health care is a right....the "boy' SAYS that if the parents cannot pay for the kid's health then they should just have the kids die....i am serious ....this is what came from his mouth...he also want to hand a rifle on his den shelf to protect him from the robbers taht might enter his house and he says he doen't like cops so maybe that what the rifle above his den is the putz

CJ said...

In Michael Moore's SICKO movie, a Brit (former member of Parliament) told how the UK decided to initiate free health care for everyone back in the 1940s. He said the reasoning was, if they found the money to fight Nazi's, they could find the money to keep their own citizens healthy.

Too bad we wasted so much money in Iraq.

I recommend everyone see SICKO if you haven't yet.

As a retired person who has a year to go before Medicare, I am paying half of my Social Security for health care. Last month I had several appointments and put out another $120 in copays. Luckily we have other income, but some months we are just squeaking by. But what about those who have no other income?

I'm so mad at the Republicans. About 2 months ago, they announced the goal to kill health care to make Obama look bad ----at our expense. Reps keep saying they want health care, but no matter what is suggested, they oppose it, so I say to the Dems, make whatever health care bill you can and pass it without a bipartisan vote. I'm usually one who thinks it is best to compromise, work together, come up with something both sides can live with, but when one side blocks every single suggestion and comes up with nothing new to suggest, I say ignore them.

How did we get so polarized? It seems that our Congress votes the party line no matter what is good or bad for the country. It has gotten so bad I have seriously considered moving to another country.

Travis said...

I certainly think we should all have access to affordable insurance and care, and not just affordable insurance when we're healthy and employed. We all need affordable insurance and care when we're ill and unemployed too.

Sometimes, through no fault of our own, we lose jobs. We're not deadbeats during that time. We're still the same hard working and responsible people we were when we had jobs. But sometimes we're forced to take a chance with our health because COBRA benefits or other private insurance options are so expensive. I've had to make that gamble, and I've been fortunate to stay healthy when I've been between jobs.

And since I've never had an issue with contributing to Medicare through my taxes, I also think that we have an obligation to help care for our seniors.

It would be nice if the "debate" could focus on real issues rather than a bunch of screaming over lies and distortions.

Maddy said...

Obviously I'm biased but it works for me.

Queen-Size funny bone said...

here ye here ye

SandyCarlson said...

Another situation in which we realize that we can't legislate decency.

Jew Wishes said...

Excellent post, MaryT!

Your EG Tour Guide said...

How sad that the Republican party feels it must oppose an idea simply because it isn't theirs.

carol g said...

Thank you for the post. Pretty soon we won't be able to afford health insurance and my husband has a cancer diagnosis. I only have Medicare A & B... he isn't eligible for Medicare until Feb 2010 and "they" say we have too much money for Medicaid. So what do we do? And our story isn't the worst of the stories out there. Doesn't anyone in government believe that we need to clean up our own mess before we meddle with other's businees?