Should Healthcare Be Funded As A Basic Human Right?

This article looks at funding healthcare as a basic human right. It examines what is a basic human right. It looks at the need for re-examinaton of the health care system in the United States. Is health care a right or a privilege? By looking at the number of uninsured and who they are, we ask if everyone has the same access to health care. We examine traditional methods of funding and use the Medicare model as a framework. Nurses Activism Article

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DC Collins, ASN

268 Posts

Specializes in ED.
I wish more Americans would realize we do not have the best health care system.

I don't find waiting 16 hours in an ED (socialized) a better system. And we do have one of the most advanced / more equipment per capita systems in the world.

Waiting several months for a CT because there are fewer machines per capita is, IMHO, *not* at better system, though yes, it is cheaper.

Plus, the main reason so many other nations' citizens have longer life spans is because of better health *choices* made, not because of better health 'care'. Again, IMHO.

DC :-)

DC Collins, ASN

268 Posts

Specializes in ED.
Does this mean they don't "deserve" healthcare? That they are better left for dead and kicked to the side of the road as unworthy?

...snipped for brevity

You never know when you will find yourself in that place..There but for the Grace of God go I.

There is something to be said for working up good relationships with family and friends and community. People in the US are some of the most generous people on the planet. Asking for help is great! Getting it even better.

*Stealing* the help, is immoral, whether or not the term 'government' is involved.

DC :-)

wooh, BSN, RN

1 Article; 4,383 Posts

I don't find waiting 16 hours in an ED (socialized) a better system. And we do have one of the most advanced / more equipment per capita systems in the world.

Waiting several months for a CT because there are fewer machines per capita is, IMHO, *not* at better system, though yes, it is cheaper.

Plus, the main reason so many other nations' citizens have longer life spans is because of better health *choices* made, not because of better health 'care'. Again, IMHO.

DC :-)

Strange, I've waited over 16 hours in an ED. A couple months for testing. Longer for surgery. And that's here in the good ol' USA. And then I had great big bills after all was said and done. How is that better than socialized?

Home Health Columnist / Guide

NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN

10 Articles; 18,280 Posts

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Nurses are mostly unaware that the largest percentage of Medicaid enrollee's are:

#1: Children under age 18

#2: Adults with Children under age 18

#3: Disabled

#4: Elderly over age 65

Key Medicare and Medicaid Statistics - The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

What Are the Medicaid Benefits?

Medicaid is a joint federal-state program. Each state determines services it provides

Federal Requirements

The federal government requires each state to cover certain health-related benefits, known as mandatory benefits and include:

  • physician, nurse midwife, and nurse practitioner services
  • laboratory and x-ray services
  • inpatient and outpatient hospital services
  • early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment (EPSDT) services for children, teens, and young adults under age 21
  • family planning services and supplies
  • services provided in community health centers and rural health clinics
  • nursing facility services for people age 21 and older

State Options

Each state can provide coverage for additional health-related services that are approved by the federal government. These so-called “optional” services may include:

  • prescription drugs
  • dental care
  • eye glasses and vision care
  • mental health services
  • home health services
  • case management
  • rehabilitation services such as physical therapy
  • hospice care

In PA, state provides all options depending on eligibility requirements.

2012 HHS Poverty Guidelines

wooh, BSN, RN

1 Article; 4,383 Posts

There is something to be said for working up good relationships with family and friends and community.

Because people that can't afford their medical bills are usually living nextdoor to someone independently wealthy who can pay the bills for them.

Specializes in Trauma.
Our current system is idiotic, penny-wise and pound foolish. I am an unemployed, uninsured pre-nursing student. I could get COBRA from my old job at a cost of $545 a month. Since I am unemployed, I cannot pay that. I have applied for dozens of jobs, and no one is hiring. I don't qualify for medicaid (yet).

We do have free healthcare. It's called the ER. I have gone to the ER and not paid for it. Instead, the taxpayers pay for it. It's not what I want to do, but what choice do I have? (I don't feel too bad about it, since I've paid taxes for years.) All our current system does is prevent preventative care. Instead, people like me wait until they are in dire straits, and then the taxpayers get to pay pounds to cure me, instead of pennies to prevent it.

We are a dumb country!

I would like to know what the difference is, in your opinion, between the taxpayers paying for your ER visit and the taxpayers paying for your health insurance. It seems it's a wash either way, since you cannot afford either the taxpayer will pick up the tab. I am not picking on you, just pointing out that the taxpayers will be paying for it in either case.

Specializes in Trauma.
How about we all take care of each other and stop worrying about how much it's going to cost us? Maybe then we wouldn't have children starving to death while we throw enormous amounts of food in the garbage, or people dying of diseases we have medicine/cures for simply because they can't afford it...

What's really sad is that it is absolutely possible for there to be worldwide freedom from hunger, fear, poverty, most diseases and so on, but it will never happen because human beings are inherently selfish despite all those people who argue against evolution claiming that we are nothing like "monkeys" because of our higher intelligence, the most important of which is our ability to empatize, love and show compassion, yet we let our own people freeze to death on the street, let children starve to death, we fight with each over things that don't matter and it doesn't even have to be that way, we make it or allow it to be that way! But we can't change things because it's "too complicated", requires too much effort from us when we might have to miss the lates episode of American Idol or it might cost us a little extra in taxes even though we blow thousands each on nonsense items such as $800 purses and twenty pairs of shoes and eat out 5 days a week. Come on, do some of you people even listen to yourselves?

Our world is BROKEN people and it is only getting worse. You can't say you don't see it because it is right there in front of our faces everyday on the news, in the newspapers, the way we see other people behave these days and everytime we flip on any random channel on TV.

I find myself withdrawing more and more from society each year...within a few years I expect our farm to be completely self-dependent, we will have money and time set aside to help different local charities (because we ourselves had to learn how to work our way up from homeless and next year we will be college graduates thanks to help from only a few kind hearted people and government "handouts") but other than our few select friends, the only outside contact we will have to deal with will be employment. I don't even watch TV anymore, just movies with no commercials.

Sometimes my husband gets upset with me when I will take one of the only two dollars I have to bUy me something unimportant, like an energy drink or snack and give it to one of the random people begging on the corner by the local store. He says I've seen that guy at the store buying cigerettes or beer or whatever, and I tell him I don't care what he uses it for, he says he needs it and I have it so I GIVE IT, because others have given to me. I do not claim to be God so I cannot judge someone, I cannot claim to know someones life story or why the do or are the way they are...WHEN SOMEONE ASKS YOU FOR HELP YOU GIVE IT AND YOU DON'T ASK FOR ANYTHING IN RETURN, THAT'S THE MEANING OF GIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's good you are willing to give your money away, just don't try to be so free with mine.

MunoRN, RN

8,058 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care.
I would like to know what the difference is, in your opinion, between the taxpayers paying for your ER visit and the taxpayers paying for your health insurance. It seems it's a wash either way, since you cannot afford either the taxpayer will pick up the tab. I am not picking on you, just pointing out that the taxpayers will be paying for it in either case.

We pay either way, but we can chose what it is that we're paying for to some degree.

It's pretty rare that someone shows up to the ER saying they have a family history of DM, MI, and stroke and need to be screened to prevent their risk in the future. Far more often they show up in the ER years after that screening should have happened, now with a stroke, MI, etc. Would you rather pay for a screening at a doctor's office or open heart surgery, 3x/week dialysis, etc?

MunoRN, RN

8,058 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care.
It's good you are willing to give your money away, just don't try to be so free with mine.

If you have health insurance or purchase any healthcare services then you're already giving your money away, that ship has already sailed.

CountyRat

323 Posts

Specializes in Wilderness Medicine, ICU, Adult Ed..
If you have health insurance or purchase any healthcare services then you're already giving your money away, that ship has already sailed.

There is a difference between giving your money away, and having it taken from you to service several trillion dollars in debt. When I give, I am choosing to do so, not being compelled.

I am not opposed to universal healthcare, in fact, I want it. I am also not unwilling to pay my share to make it possible. I am opposed to my government compelling me to purchase a service that our rullers have decided I should have. I am opposed to politically motivated boon-doggles that will saddle our children with a debt they cannot pay, to fund a system that cannot be sustained.

Of course they could if THEY HAD INSURANCE, that's the whole point. Most employers, especially those who pay low wages, do not offer insurance and even if they do, or if the person choses to purchase insurance on their own, they cannot afford it. This cost is more than they pay in rent, even if they are not on section 8 (which by the way does not cover the entire amount of rent), heck for us it's more than we make in month. Insurance through my husbands job would cost us $900 a month for the three of us and he makes $700.

I feel for people in this situation. I do.

But another reason that I brought up how people find money to pay for luxuries but not insurance is also because of this...

Let's say a 40 yr old man was to take out a health insurance policy for the first time in his life today. His premium would be MUCH higher than the premium paid by a 40 yr old man in similar health who has had insurance with the company since he was say 25 or so. The man who had insurance all along is getting by with much smaller premiums because he was RESPONSIBLE the whole time. The 40 yr old man who "Could never afford insurance when he was younger," but still spent the equivalent amount of money on Cable and HS internet is now paying for the poor choice. So why should the rest of us pay for his IRRESPONSIBILITY? And make no mistake. When you are a 25 yr old non smoker, whether you're male or female you can find health insurance coverage for even less than the cost of cable and internet.

...And don't even get me started on the irresponsible guy's nice car, either.

MunoRN, RN

8,058 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care.
There is a difference between giving your money away, and having it taken from you to service several trillion dollars in debt. When I give, I am choosing to do so, not being compelled.

I am not opposed to universal healthcare, in fact, I want it. I am opposed to politically motivated boon-doggles that will saddle our children with a debt they cannot pay, to sustain a system that cannot be sustained.

You're compelled to contribute to other people's health care if you have insurance, I don't know of any insurance company that gives you the choice.