Rights are those things that are inherent parts of being a human. When something infringes on my rights, the power of the state is used to maintain them. We have rights to represent the minimal amount of state-sanctioned force that is required to keep us all civil.
You cannot have a right to goods and services that somebody else currently owns. Using the power of the state to acquire medical goods and services is not a basic necessity of being a human.
We've lived millions of years without the state caring for our daily health. We can live millions more without the state and we'll be just be fine.
For a constitutionally-trained lawyer to say that is to engage in demagoguery over substance. We have a problem with health care -- some free market principles do not work when you are dying. But cartoon solutions and slogans are not going to fix complex problems. Mark my words: we'll just end up more in debt, more frustrated, and more vulnerable to even more bullshit promises.
If I were to have an accident or to fall sick right now, I'd worry about my health, and nothing more, because I live in a country with socialized healthcare. If this were to happen in the U.S, I'd have tens of thousands of dollars of debt. To work my way out of this debt would make me a slave for years.
Support for social heathcare is to recongize that one day you may be in the same position. In fact, when you are a really old man, you WILL be in that position. You'll be on a pension and you'll have lots of illnesses. I pay 8% of my income so that this never has to be a worry.
Social healthcare may not be a fundamental human right, but it's a hell of a convenient thing!
> cartoon solutions and slogans are not going to fix complex problems.
Good point. E.g.:
"Competition will cause insurance companies to drop price and increase service. Innovation will come to insurance and new and different types of policies will enter the market, making it even more competitive. Consumer behavior will cause people to shop for insurance and minimize costs while trying to increase coverage."
You cannot have a right to goods and services that somebody else currently owns. Using the power of the state to acquire medical goods and services is not a basic necessity of being a human.
We've lived millions of years without the state caring for our daily health. We can live millions more without the state and we'll be just be fine.
For a constitutionally-trained lawyer to say that is to engage in demagoguery over substance. We have a problem with health care -- some free market principles do not work when you are dying. But cartoon solutions and slogans are not going to fix complex problems. Mark my words: we'll just end up more in debt, more frustrated, and more vulnerable to even more bullshit promises.