Just a few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine said those words to me in passing… My family and I were on our way back to 
Colorado and we were out of time for some great debate. I used my two flights across the country to not merely scoff at the idea (as would have been my initial response to her)… I decided to analyze it and see if it was a valid claim. As you will see, I think she might be on to something (she is a very wise individual).
To travel down this road we need to understand what a ‘right’ is. The Declaration of Independence states that each one of us, has certain unalienable rights, endowed by our creator, which under no circumstances can they be removed from us. The document goes on to say that when those rights are taken from us, we have the duty and right to remove ourselves from that government by whatever means possible.
To that end, our Founding Fathers, guided by an understanding of the intrinsic worth of every human being and understanding the fallibility of us all, created a government for the people, of the people, by the people. They knew just outlining the powers of each branch would not prevent people from the temptation of power and authority, but they had to place limits, rather overtly, on government, to ensure those unalienable, intrinsic, and inherent rights were protected from the tyranny of other people. They had been long told by the King of England and the British Legislature that they (in the UK) knew what was better for them than they did.
These limitations formed the Bill of Rights. Over the summer, I posted these to our blog with some essential commentary on each about the role of government as it pertained to those rights.
Now back to healthcare… If healthcare is a right, it must be treated the same as every other right we have in this country. As natural law and the Declaration would put it, “…that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Certainly, healthcare would seem to fit into my personal freedom to pursue Life and Happiness. Therefore, I can come before you today and say that healthcare is indeed a right, just as my right to free speech, religion, a speedy trail, and to bare arms.
The beauty of our Constitution is that the Bill of Rights is not GRANTING our rights, it is specifically PREVENTING the government from inhibiting them. As a citizen of this country, I have the right to free speech. Other than threatening the violation of someone else’s rights (i.e. to live), I am free without the government’s hindrance to do so. I can write on this blog, I can vote, I can send an email to friends and family – or I can choose to remain silent. It is my right to do so. By remaining silent on issues, I am not giving up my intrinsic right; I am merely not exercising it. The government cannot make me express it, nor suppress it.
Other rights I have that are similar to my right to healthcare are for instance, my right to my own health and diet, my right to be unhealthy or healthy. These are all wrapped up in my freedom of self-determination and my ability to exercise my rights as I see fit.
Currently I exercise my right to healthcare by purchasing insurance through my wife’s employment. I have decided of my own free will that I will pay an amount that gives me the absolute best care the health insurance will provide for me. I could decide of my own volition to choose a cheaper plan with less coverage, so I could perhaps spend money on some other personal freedom. I could also decide I do not want to pay an insurance company, but rather either run the risk of not getting sick or injured or saving up and paying cash for my medical care. How I exercise that right is my choice.
I can further my ability to exercise that right by seeking a job that gives me a better opportunity for less expensive insurance, seek a better job that allows me the opportunity to pay cash for medical care or once again, choose not to exercise it at all. The beauty of rights is that you have to depend on no one to grant them to you, you merely choose how you would like to approach it.
My ability to exercise my right to healthcare is currently under attack. Any tax or fee on premium insurance plans will penalize me for exercising my right as I see fit. My current plan is under threat of either a government run option or massively subsidized plans that will make it impossible for private providers to compete. Because all insurance providers will be required to insure all comers with pre-existing conditions, those of us who actually have insurance will have to pay for the risk of someone waiting until they have a health issue to call the insurance company to sign up. My ability to exercise my right to healthcare is being attacked by the government – exactly what our founding fathers warned about. The freedom to not carry insurance at all is being taken away as well.
The instantaneous response to this logic will be how insensitive we are. Make no mistake; there are people in this nation who need access to care at market rate and we need to come together to ensure that happens. However, that number of whom we shall carry the burden for is much lower than those who co-opt people for votes would like you to believe. For our views on the intrinsic value of people see HERE and ponder this quote HERE. For an archive of our “Quotes of the Day” click HERE. Many of them reflect how awesome we think everyone is and this article talks about how much we believe in America and what people can actually achieve.
So, is healthcare a right? If it is, it is up to the individual to exercise that right, just like all the others, without infringing on the unalienable rights of others.
