Health Care is a right

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I would do a poll on this, but I do not know how to - or maybe you need to be a premium member.

At any rate, I would like to hear some discussion on whether you feel health care is a right or not.

I personally do.

Specializes in LTC.

The OP claims that health care is a right. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish it was a right, but in the United States, health care is privilege that has to be paid for, and only the very privileged can afford best care.

I am doing clinicals at a hospital that has "VIP" rooms. (that's what the hospital calls them). I thought to myself, is this a hospital or The Ritz.

Waste is so pervasive in our society, we should cut down on the aesthetics, ridiculous profits and other BS and figure out how to cover everyone.

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Specializes in Medical.

There are moral rights and legal rights - in the US health care is not afforded the status of a legal right but that doesn't stop it from being a moral right. Hopefully one day you'll catch up with the rest of the Western world.

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There are moral rights and legal rights - in the US health care is not afforded the status of a legal right but that doesn't stop it from being a moral right. Hopefully one day you'll catch up with the rest of the Western world.

More or less moral than shelter and food?

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Since you asked. FDR also advocated for building a strong economy. Viewing health care as a right does enable our citizens to care for themselves.

See:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad

The right to a good education.

One of the responsibilities of government IMO is to build/assure good systems for citizens to live in. We have tried the market will fix everything approach for healthcare since Truman was president. It hasn't worked. Now its time to fundamentally rethink how we provide and assure access to health care in this country.

So a government run healthcare system wouldn't be a monoply? We don't have several of these rights yet. Farmer's can't feed their families. Good education? I don't think so. How many are unemployed in this country now? I don't wanna work in the mines.

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Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....
FDR certainly had a different point of view:

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

I think we have a collective responsibility to each other to provide for medical care for children and families. Somehow this family was unable to predict the loss of health care coverage. It is ridiculous to think that all vicissitudes of life can be anticipated and prepared for.

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FDR lengthened the Great Depression by years. World War 2 saved him from the ash heap of history. By and large, he was a socialist and a national disgrace.

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Specializes in LTC.

^ The people of the day would most likely disagree with you, considering he was the only US president to serve more than two terms.

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Specializes in Medical.
More or less moral than shelter and food?

Moral rights are absolute, not relative.

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Specializes in Medical.
So a government run healthcare system wouldn't be a monoply?
If, like many countries with universal health care, you also have the option of private health care then no, it doesn't constitute a monopololy.

I don't wanna work in the mines.
How about working in health care? The quote says industries, shops and farms, in addition to mines.
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So a government run healthcare system wouldn't be a monoply? We don't have several of these rights yet. Farmer's can't feed their families. Good education? I don't think so. How many are unemployed in this country now? I don't wanna work in the mines.

I'm not taking the bait. perfection is unattainable but we can certainly work for improvement.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

...

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all--regardless of station, race, or creed.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/econrights/fdr-econbill.html
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Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....
^ The people of the day would most likely disagree with you, considering he was the only US president to serve more than two terms.

Oddly enough, my grandparents (92, 95) were people of the day, and they agree wholeheartedly.

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That is just a reflection of shared values not historical judgement...

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Specializes in LTC.
Oddly enough, my grandparents (92, 95) were people of the day, and they agree wholeheartedly.

Thanks. I guess they were the exception then, because the fact remains that FDR was wildy popular in his day and mostly loved by the people.

I offer you are a fact (FDR was the only president in history to serve more than two terms), and you give me an anecdotal story about your grand-parents. My position stands, your opinion that FDR was a "national disgrace" seems to be marginal.

But, I'm not surprised in the least that you think that.

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