Democratic Party

The founding documents of the United States provide

support for a right to health care.
- The Declaration of Independence states that all men
have unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, which
necessarily entails having the health care needed to
preserve life and pursue happiness.

Republican Party
The founding documents of the United States do not
provide support for a right to health care.
- Nowhere in the Declaration of Independence does it
say there is a right to health care.
- The purpose of the US constitution as stated in the
Preamble, is to promote the general welfare, not to
provide it.

Democratic Party
Instituting a right to health care could lower the cost
of health care in the United States.
- A single-payer system, in which all citizens are
guaranteed a right to health care, total public and
private health care spending could be lowered by $592
billion in 2014 and up to $1.8 trillion over the next
decade due to lowered administrative and prescription
drug costs.

Republican Party
A right to health care could increase in the US debt
and deficit.
- Spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and the Childrens
Health Insurance Program, all government programs
that provide a right to health care for certain segments
of the population, totaled less than 10% of the federal
budget in 1985, but by 2012 these programs took up
21% of the federal budget.

Democratic Party
A right to health care could make medical services
affordable for everyone.
- According to one estimate of a proposed bill to
implement a single-payer health care system in the
United States, 95% of US households would save
money and every individual in the United States would
receive guaranteed access to publically financed
medical care.

Republican Party
Providing a right to health care could raise taxes.
- In European countries with a universal right to health
care, the cost of coverage is paid through higher
taxes.
- In the United Kingdom and other European countries,
payroll taxes average 37% - much higher than the
15.3% payroll taxes paid by the average US worker.
- Financing a universal right to health care in the United
States would cause payroll taxes to double.

Democratic Party
Because the United States is a very wealthy country, it
should provide health care for all its citizens.
- Many European countries with a universal right to
health care, such as Germany, France, the United
Kingdom, and Italy, have a lower Gross Domestic
Product per capita than the United States, yet they
provide a right to health care for all their citizens.

Republican Party
A right to health care could lower the quality and
availability of disease screening and treatment.
- In countries with a universal right to health care
certain disease treatment outcomes are worse than
the United States.
- Studies have found that US cancer screening rates are
higher than those in Canada and 10 European
countries with universal health care including France,
Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.