Our goal this week was to determine a topic for our human rights paper. This topic needed to be something that interests us and, when considering my own personal rights, I feel that health care is a major human rights issue. This issue is constantly in debate on how we can make health care more accessible, if it should even be more accessible, and whether it should be universal. Personally, I find the idea of knowing I could be without healthcare terrifying. As a person of a lower class I am able to have access to government provided healthcare--which is part of the second clause of Article 25 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in which “childhood are entitled to special care and assistance”—however, I will lose this healthcare next year and will not be able to protect myself if something goes wrong until I graduate and obtain a job which provides healthcare benefits.
From a more general standpoint, the UDHR states (in Article 3) that “everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the security of person.” I feel that this statement can include the right to healthcare which is essentially protecting your right to live. The security aspect applies to the idea that one needs healthcare as a plan for security in your times of need. Then, the UDHR directly states in Article 25 that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Some may argue that healthcare is a privilege or that it is not in fact a human right but the UDHR, which the United States recognizes, clearly states that medical care is a human right. This human right, therefore, should be protected and provided to every citizen regardless of “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
What if we consider people of the middle class who do not qualify for government assistance but are still unable to afford healthcare or the expenses to visit a doctor or in an emergency? Doctors are there to help people regardless of class and should not just be available to people of a higher class simply because they are in a better economic standing. Healthcare should be a necessity for every human being and not a luxury for upper class citizens (and mothers and children).
According to the universal declaration, healthcare is a human rights issue. I agree that healthcare should be accessible to more people. However, I think it is important to remember that healthcare, like most other things requiring labor and goods, is not free. People aren't denied healthcare because of their standing; they are denied healthcare simply because they can't pay for the labor and goods. Is it really an injustice to deny someone something because they can't pay for it? I don't think so. I think the injustice here is when people are good, productive, and hardworking and still do not get what they deserve. When they don't get the rewards they deserve, they can't afford things like food, shelter, healthcare, etc. The injustice is not necessarily the fault of healthcare professionals, because the healthcare professionals do not necessarily owe people anything. The injustice is instead the fault of those who do owe but do not pay.
ReplyDeleteI think that universal healthcare is essential for a just society. There are many times when hardworking individuals can't afford healthcare because it is so expensive. I am not super educated on the issue but from my understanding the problem is that medical care has gotten overly expensive because private companies provide the materials and whatnot. Businesses' main purpose is to make money so when they are producing something essential to the public, they are able to charge a great deal. If the government were to provide healthcare at cost, it would be much more affordable. It never should have been privatized.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, my sister and I had an interesting discussion the other day. My wealthy uncle needed knee surgery and medicare paid for the surgery and his rehab. My uncle easily could have afforded the surgery but because the government was willing to pay for it, he took let them. Do you think that programs like this should help people who don't necessarily need it? At first I thought that if people could afford it, the government shouldn't pay. My sister brought up a good point that his tax money was going towards programs like this so he should benefit from them as well. What do you guys think?