Question

Is access to health care a moral right?

Why or why not?

Please cite your sources if used any, thank you.

Answer 1

Ans) A right to basic health care means that the government is morally obligated to do all within its means to ensure that medically necessary care is accessible and affordable to all to enact a health care policy worthy of this country's highest moral principles.

- The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights claims that everyone has a right to health care. This means that the government cannot infringe on our right to pursue health care but no one owes us health care. Health care is a good just like food, clothing, and shelter.

- Even basic, human rights are not absolute, and health care must be provided in accordance with sound medical judgment and fiscal realities. A right to basic health care means that the government is morally obligated to do all within its means to ensure that medically necessary care is accessible and affordable to all. It does not obligate the government, or physicians, to provide free face-lifts and tummy tucks on demand.

- Indeed, there is really no such thing as “free” health care; rather, universal health care is made feasible through shared societal responsibility, in the form of a publically financed, single-payer insurance system.

- It is impossible to “prove” that health care is a basic human right. There is no empirical investigation or experiment that can demonstrate the truth of this claim. Rather, it comes down to the kind of nation and world we wish to live in.