Health Care: A Right or a Privilege - Week 1 (SOC 490)

     The first week of our Comparative Health class, we discussed whether or not universal health care should be a right or a privilege. Honestly, before this class, I did not know where I stood on this issue because it never arised in my every day life. After two class discussions and some readings though, this topic is becoming more clear.
     Currently, health care is considered a privilege in the United States, while in Italy, it is a right and they have universal health care. The Catholic church also believes that health care is a right. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World states that "by his innermost nature man is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither live nor develop his potential." The church teaches that man should put others before himself and that includes making sure everyone has health care.
     In "Universal Health Care: Opposing Viewpoints," Helen Redmond takes the side that health care should be a right because of the statistics on issues including mental illnesses and the substance-addicted. "Mental illnesses among the uninsured often go untreated, or benefits are limited, with the result that some uninsured end up in prison." Leonard Peikoff, on the other hand, argues that health care is not a right. He is on the side of the doctors, saying that, "treating health care as a human right requires that services that belong to some people-doctors-are given for free to others. Health care can only be treated as a right through a violation of personal rights of doctors." He thinks that it's wrong for people to be able to get health care for free, while people should work hard in order to receive it, instead of it just being handed to them.
     After our assigned readings and class discussions the first week, I've decided that right now, I'm more on the side that health care is a right rather than a privilege. I think that it would be fair for everyone and less people would be denied basic health rights because they don't have insurance or aren't covered for a certain illness. Both viewpoints are legitimate and this issue is controversial, which makes it hard to choose a side, but until I change my mind, I think that health care is a right.