Ray9
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2016
- 2,707
- 4,485
- 1,970
- Banned
- #1
The notion that healthcare is a human right is gaining traction in United States and perhaps we should explore what that entails. The perception does not say that health is a human right and that’s an important distinction. Health is something that is dependent on a complex set of circumstances some under the control of the individual, some not.
A right is something granted to an individual requiring other individuals to honor as morally good and justified in the concept of its benefit to all from the weakest to the strongest. It’s kind of a legal precept of the Golden Rule. But rights and health are two very different things and there is ample confusion in the air surrounding our democracy.
What happens when one person’s right infringes on the right of another person? If one person smokes and that smoke damages the lungs of another person then the right of that other person to health should supersede the right of the person to smoke and it does in our society. But the smoker’s lungs are damaged and the healthcare needed to treat that damage is an infringement on rights of the individual who does not smoke because smoking and not smoking are under the control of both individuals.
So if the nose of one individual is thumbed at personal responsibility for self-gratification, how can that be a human right to force the others to pay for healthcare? Not that most Americans want to restrict the enjoyment and freedom of others; most say to each his own. But if Joe six-pack goes home every day and puts away twelve cans of sixteen ounce Budweisers, how can Joe’s human right to healthcare require someone else to pay for the carnage to his heart and liver?
This is the problem with defining healthcare as a human right. This is why Venezuela, once a rich and honorable country, is a failed state. The expense is prohibitive and healthcare workers expect to be paid not work for peanuts because some central authority dictates it. Healthcare quality will deteriorate quickly if healthcare is declared to be a human right.
There is no Horn of Plenty that exists on its own in the real world. It exists in Venezuela and Cuba and maybe some should go to those places and experience it. They will likely define healthcare differently.
A right is something granted to an individual requiring other individuals to honor as morally good and justified in the concept of its benefit to all from the weakest to the strongest. It’s kind of a legal precept of the Golden Rule. But rights and health are two very different things and there is ample confusion in the air surrounding our democracy.
What happens when one person’s right infringes on the right of another person? If one person smokes and that smoke damages the lungs of another person then the right of that other person to health should supersede the right of the person to smoke and it does in our society. But the smoker’s lungs are damaged and the healthcare needed to treat that damage is an infringement on rights of the individual who does not smoke because smoking and not smoking are under the control of both individuals.
So if the nose of one individual is thumbed at personal responsibility for self-gratification, how can that be a human right to force the others to pay for healthcare? Not that most Americans want to restrict the enjoyment and freedom of others; most say to each his own. But if Joe six-pack goes home every day and puts away twelve cans of sixteen ounce Budweisers, how can Joe’s human right to healthcare require someone else to pay for the carnage to his heart and liver?
This is the problem with defining healthcare as a human right. This is why Venezuela, once a rich and honorable country, is a failed state. The expense is prohibitive and healthcare workers expect to be paid not work for peanuts because some central authority dictates it. Healthcare quality will deteriorate quickly if healthcare is declared to be a human right.
There is no Horn of Plenty that exists on its own in the real world. It exists in Venezuela and Cuba and maybe some should go to those places and experience it. They will likely define healthcare differently.