Health care is considered to be one of the important issues in the life of each person that provides the necessary treatment and health preservation through dental, nursing, medical, and laboratory services. There are so many people, who need medical consultations and help, but, unfortunately, they do not have enough money to provide themselves with such a chance.
This is why it is crucially important to think and clear up whether health care should be a basic right of Americans or it is just a privilege of only some people. To answer this very question, it is better to analyze the situations, people get into because of absence of medical insurance.
“It is well known that the gap between those who receive the best health care in the world and those who receive the worst is staggering and that which side of the gap one is on makes a significant difference in the length and quality of one’s life.” (Green, 2005)
Is it fair that one person can easily get any kind of medical help just because he/she has enough money support, even without medical insurance, while another person suffers from some unknown disease and cannot find financial support to get the necessary treatment? Hardly such inequality can be just! To my mind, health care should be one of the most important interests of our society.
The point is that government should use taxpayers’ money in order to fund health care, and make it available for everyone. If it is so, then health care should be a right of all Americans. However, if health care and best medical services are available to only some people, health care is not considered as a basic right, but as a privilege.
To explain the importance of the health care right, it is possible to take some examples, which ordinary people share with the readers. Karen Tumulty from San Antonio presents an educative story, happened to his older brother Patrick, who always put off his visit to doctors because of medical insurance’s absence. In order to clear up what happened to him, doctors spent much time and Pat’s money. “Patrick needed help quickly, and we didn’t have a clue where or how to start looking for it.” (Tumulty, 2009)
Health care should be a basic right for all Americans. However, this suggestion may cause lots of questions: how to provide all this, how to pay for it, what issues should be covered at first and which ones should be covered later, etc. Of course, it can be said that there are many other industrialized countries, which have already solved this problem, and American government may just analyze their policies and use them as models.
In my opinion, it is obligatory to create a policy and consider health care as a basic right, at least, because of social justice. When people altogether are interested in this very right, it may serve as good as it can only be. When people try to think a bit about the other people and about their problems and needs, it will be easier to create a really powerful nation and prove to everyone that unity is something that can save people and present really safe future.
“The American health care system, the way our nation pays for care and organizes it, can be changed in fundamental ways, but only if we choose to do so.” (Richmond and Fein, 2005) If Americans are interested in such prospects, health care should be a basic right of all Americans.
Reference List
Green, M. J. (2005). Global Justice and Health: Is Health Care a Basic Right? Public Health Policy and Ethics by Boylan, M. Springer.
Richmond, J. B. & Fein, R. (2005). The Health Care Mess: How We Got into It and What It Will Take to Get Out. Harvard University Press.
Tumulty, K. (2009). The Health-Care Crisis Hits Home. Time. Web.