SOC 490 Week 1

Is healthcare a right or a privilege? This is a question that has long been debated. Many people believe healthcare to be a right. That every single person in the world deserves to have free healthcare provided for them. They ask: who has the right or the power to deicide whose lives will be saved or not? There are others that believe that healthcare is a privilege, and that your ability to provide for yourself is directly related to amount of care you will receive.

It is very easy to say that everyone in the world should receive healthcare. Many are quick to say that it’s the government’s responsibility to provide care for its citizens, however ask them if they are okay with an increase of taxes and check their response. It’s also easy for people to say “I provide healthcare for myself, so should everyone else”, however ask them what they would do, or how they would feel if they were terminally ill and dropped by their insurer?

The point is that there is never a clear cut solution to anything, especially when the issue is as large and as complicated as healthcare. The most important thing I believe is that we find a middle ground representing the two sides. I think healthcare can be both a right and a privilege. Everyone has a right to not be dropped by their insurer because they are ill, and if they are working and still cannot pay for prescriptions, then help should be given. However it is also a privilege in the fact that many people take their health, and providing good healthcare seriously. If people are working harder to stay healthy, and using more money to provide care, shouldn’t they be rewarded for their work and be a step ahead of other people?

Bottom line: Affordable healthcare is both a right and a privilege, however if you do things to abuse or facilitate it, they will be reflected."