by Jennifer Buckett

Created on: April 13, 2010

Sickness is an inevitable consequence of being human. In order to maintain or achieve health, humans require some form of health care. In the past few decades, Americans have struggled to reform health care and to make it more accessible to those who lack it. President Obama has suggested a universal health care system that is publicly funded and more democratic, creating affordable health care for all. Much debate has been sparked over the constitutionality of this suggested bill and if the government should even meddle in the business of private health insurers. This issue brings up questions of personal freedom, power struggles, human rights, culture, and even leadership. Supporters of the bill feel that health care is a human right and every American is entitled to it. Opponents argue against health care as a right, declaring that the Constitution never specifically outlined medical care as an American right. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this matter because the results of the vote on this bill will affect each and every American, either changing their health care plan or making one available to them. Although everyone deserves access to affordable and comprehensive medical care, health care is not a human right because it infringes on the rights of others. Rather, it is a privilege, and one that should be made available to all Americans.

Supporters of President Obama’s health care plan are adamant that health care is a right and are eager to turn to the founding documents of America to prove it. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are born “with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (1776). Life requires health, and health requires health care, therefore health care is a right and the government is a tool to deliver and secure this right.

Opponents feel that this argument may be stretching the words of the Declaration and that is not what the authors truly meant. To that, Howard Haft (2003) argues:

 “based on a realistic view of the impotent and poorly organized health care as it existed in the 1700s, Jefferson and the Founding Fathers probably found no reason to include health care as a specific right…. They had no way to predict that health care would grow to be an integral part of the fabric of modern life and essential to the pursuit of life and happiness.”

It is true that medical care is an integral part of health, but the

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