.
Is
Health Care a Natural Human
Right?
by
Ken Freed
Colorado
leaders debate whether health care is an
inalienable citizen's right.
.
CoI
think people have a right to health care,"
said Diana Degette, Colorado's U.S.
Representative. She spoke after the March
10 Denver kickoff press conference for
Cover the Uninsured Week.
"Do children have as
much of a right to medical care as they
have a right to eat?" she asked. "I
believe they do." Even if the right to
good health is not a formal part of the
Constitution, she said, "this is part of
the principles that this nation was
founded upon. "
The founding
patriots, especially Washington and
Jefferson, were deeply influenced by The
Enlightenment. They saw "natural rights"
in the terms of nature and natural law.
Health is not listed among the inalienable
rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness," but isn't health vital for
life?
So, In terms of
America's founding principles, what do you
think? With the core issue on the table,
two Colorado Senate Republicans and two
Colorado Senate Democrats were asked a
simple question:
Is health care a
natural human right?
"Health care is not
a Constitutional right," said Sen. David
Owen, R-S13, chair of the Joint Budget
Committee.
"So we want national
coverage like in Europe? Most of them are
socialist countries, and the people are
taxed heavily to pay for the coverage.
Besides, we already have a national heath
plan in America," he said, "It's called
Medicare and Medicaid."
"I think everyone
has a right to basic health care," said
Sen. Steve Johnson, R-S15, chair of the
Health, Environment, Welfare and
Institutions (HEWI) committee. "Perhaps a
better question might be, how much health
care is a right? No one is going to let
you die on the street from lack of care,
but I'm not willing to say that if you're
uninsured, you have a right to get
unlimited services for as long as you
want. We could not afford it."
Rather than
Americans following the example of the
Canadian single-payer system, he prefers
the ideas of John Breaux to end the cost
shifting from covering the uninsured. For
those not covered under Breaux's plan,
Johnson would favor state subsidies up to
250 percent of the poverty
level.
"I think we have a
right to have access to health care," said
Sen. Deana Hanna, D-S21, ranking minority
member on HEWI. "But how we go about
providing access is different for
different people."
Universal health
care in some form is a necessity, she
said, "because if you do not have public
health, we all suffer as a society. I
think there is a very definite connection
between all parts of every community. What
each one of us does has a real effect on
everyone."
"I fully understand
there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution
that says American citizens have a right
to medical care." said Sen. Bob Hagedorn,
D-S29, a member of HEWI and regarded on
all sides as a health policy expert. "But
it is my personal belief that every
American should have access to basic
health care."
In Colorado, he
said, "the situation is bad and getting
worse."
In the current state
budget fight, he added, "It always come
down to a contest between concrete
projects, bricks and mortar projects,
against the health care of
Coloradoans."
Hagedorn calls
himself a moderate who's read both John
Locke and Adam Smith. He believes it's
possible to have both human rights and a
free market.
People must look
"beyond the language of the constitution
to the broader intent," he said. "When you
go back and consider Locke's writing, how
he talked about life, he meant that to
include government being able to do what
it can to provide a good life for
humankind."
Locke and others of
The Enlightenment could not foresee the
advances of 21st Century medicine, or it's
costs, Hagedorn said, "But if Locke was
alive today, yes, he would have said that
health care is indeed a natural
right."
As for finding a
marketplace solution for covering the
uninsured, he predicted, "If we don't
transform the way health care is delivered
privately in this country so that everyone
is included, within ten years, we're going
to have a popular revolt. And if that
happens, whether we want it or not, we'll
end up with a single-payer system run by
the federal government."
Written
for The Colorado Statesman, but not
published.
March 2003
(c) 2002-03 by Ken Freed
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