Today, the status of healthcare as a right or a privilege belongs to highly debatable topics. As is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created by the UN, healthcare is recognized as the basic human right that should be guaranteed to all people without regard to their race, age, and financial situation (“Health care issues,” 2018). Personally, I agree with this position and support the opinion concerning the role of healthcare as a human right due to the importance of health services and the outcomes of improving access to them.
Speaking about human rights, we usually mean the aspects of life or needs to be met in order to guarantee at least the basic level of well-being. Healthcare belongs to such needs since without an opportunity to get timely and high-quality medical services, the human society would not be able to develop since all attention would be paid to physical survival. If healthcare is considered a privilege, it means that any citizen should make specific efforts to become eligible to medical services, which does not align with the principle of equality (“Health care issues,” 2018).
For instance, the need to buy insurance plans to get help involves significant difficulties since some people’s income levels are very low due to different factors. As for me, all citizens should have the right to healthcare since they contribute to the country’s economic development and growth.
Finally, access to necessary healthcare services is among the key factors related to the quality of life and demonstrating the degree to which citizens are protected. The willingness to recognize healthcare as a right can lead to positive consequences such as increases in access to basic medical services (see Fig.1). Importantly, the latter can improve the health of the nation, which is particularly important when it comes to low-income populations. In a long-term perspective, these changes can increase workforce productivity, thus facilitating further economic development.
References
Health care issues. (2018). In Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit, MI: Gale. Web.
Mendoza, M. (2004). Between a woman and her doctor: A story about abortion you will never forget. Ms Magazine. Web.
SafeMinds. (n.d.). Evidence-based medicine. Web.
WHO. (2017). Health for all. Web.