Discussion Board: Do you believe access to healthcare services should be a fundamental

right or a privilege?

Individuals in the United States have no legal right to healthcare services or to public health

insurance (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017). I believe that healthcare services should be a

fundamental right to all Americans living in the United States. Other comparable developed

high-income countries treat heath care as an entitlement and is financially supported by the

government and through public funds (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017). It is interesting to know

that these other countries have not been bankrupt as a result of this entitlement (Teitelbaum &

Wilensky, 2017). In fact, according to Professor Timothy Jost, "all other developed nations

spend less on health care than does the U.S., in terms of both dollars per capita and proportion of

gross domestic product" (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017).

The Constitution of the World Health Organization, says that "the highest attainable

standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of

race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition" (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017).

Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right

to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,

including medical care and the right to security in the event of sickness or disability"

(Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017).

If healthcare in the United States continues to be considered a privilege rather than a

fundamental right then individuals will continue to fail to receive the care that they need. An

example of this is someone who has cancer but cannot afford the treatment. Maruthappu,

Ologunde, & Gunarajasingam (2012) believe that failure to access care early on will undoubtedly

lead to individuals consuming a greater proportion of healthcare resources as their degree of their
morbidity escalates and will increase the burden on health care costs. Peter Singer constructed an

utilitarian standpoint ethical framework that supported the notion of healthcare as a human right

that I agree with, arguing that:

I) Suffering from a lack of medical care is harmful.

II) If it is within our power to prevent something harmful from happening,

without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so.

III) By improving health care, suffering can be prevented without making

significant personal losses.

IV) Therefore, by not improving health care, and to an extent, by not introducing

health care as a right, we are doing something wrong (Maruthappu, Ologunde, &

Gunarajasingam, 2012).
 S References

Maruthappu, M., Ologunde, R., & Gunarajasingam, A. (2012). Is health care a right? Health refo

rm in the USA and their impact upon the concept of care. Annals of Medicine and Surgery

, 2(1), 15–17. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4326121/

Teitelbaum, J. B., & Wilensky, S. E. (2017). Essentials of health policy and law (3rd ed.). Burlin

gton, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.