Miss USA: Health Care Is a Privilege, Not a Right...

[Starlight]

But where on earth does this idea of health care being a "right" come from? Certainly not the Constitution.

Well the Declaration of Independence's view that the government had obligations to ensure and enable "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" would seem to imply healthcare.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) specifically explicitly states that healthcare is a right. Your government signed that. Is your government an untrustworthy liar who doesn't keep the agreements it signs?

Incidentally, I am not at all convinced from the OP quoted text that people are interpreting the Miss Universe speech correctly. Seems to me like she is saying that healthcare is currently only accessible to those with privilege in the US and that that is bad and that it needs to be extended to all.

[Mountain Man]

Well the Declaration of Independence's view that the government had obligations to ensure and enable "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" would seem to imply healthcare.

We have a right to pursue healthy living. We do not have the right to demand that someone else provide us a service towards that end. Otherwise you end up with absurd logically necessary conclusions like the government being obligated to force people to become physicians in the event that there is a doctor shortage.

[Meh Gerbil]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) specifically explicitly states that healthcare is a right. Your government signed that. Is your government an untrustworthy liar who doesn't keep the agreements it signs?

Something being a right isn't the same as the government providing it.

I have the right to get married, the government isn't obligated to provide me with a wife.
I have the right to own a gun, the government isn't obligated to buy me a gun.
I have the right to buy property, the government isn't obligated to pay for it.

I think when it comes to charity work on the part of the government what would really ease my mind is if the left could set up some parameters.
What I mean is, when does access to the public largess end?
It is easy to be on the side of 'more, more, more, more' with no regard to the future (debt, obligations, etc) - but where are the liberals when it comes to making hard choices?

So I give the dude $20.00 an hour to make French fries, I give him comprehensive health care, I give him a home, I give him a phone... am I done yet or do I owe him a trip to Disney World? Is this person ever expected to apply himself to anything at all or do I just keep paying and paying and paying while running up the national debt? I'm guessing the answer is that I'm never done because no matter how much cash we dish out the liberals claim it isn't enough - and the moment a tiny bit of self control is asked for in return it becomes a huge civil rights/racism battle.

[Psychic Missile]

If healthcare is a right then in the event of a doctor shortage, the government is obligated to force people to become doctors in order to not deprive people of their rights.

Can a liberal explain this to me?

There are plenty of countries with universal healthcare, this shouldn't be so confusing for you.

[Psychic Missile]

Why should health care be free over any other service?
People need food, water, and shelter to live so maybe all those should be provided by the government too?

All great ideas that have been shown to work.

[Bill the Cat]

All great ideas that have been shown to work.

Maybe for short periods, but they've been proven to be unsustainable on their own over the long-term...

[Mountain Man]

If healthcare is a right then in the event of a doctor shortage, the government is obligated to force people to become doctors in order to not deprive people of their rights.

Can a liberal explain this to me?

There are plenty of countries with universal healthcare, this shouldn't be so confusing for you.

You didn't answer the question.

If healthcare is a right, is the government obligated to force people to become doctors in the event that there are not enough doctors to serve the population?

[Mountain Man]

Maybe for short periods, but they've been proven to be unsustainable on their own over the long-term...

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
-Margaret Thatcher

[guacamole]

Well to make healthcare a right, it would have to be paid for by the government. Why should we have to pay extra so doctors can have Ferrari's if the government is going to foot the bill through our taxes? We should maximize our tax dollars by minimizing their salaries. If we go to a single payer system, then hospitals and doctors will become federal employees. I don't see my mail man driving a Ferrari. Why should my doctor?

Maybe not your mail man, but there are well recompensed gov. employees and contractors, especially commensurate with experience. The highest paid government employee in each state is either the football or basketball coach of the division 1 state university. Doctors might not make as much as they can underneath the current back-room deal by which insurance companies and medical conglomerates squeeze as much as they can out of the people--but then Doctors wouldn't be making as much beneath a rigorously defended open market system either.

fwiw,
Guacamole, M.D. (Molcajete Doctorate)

[Sparko]

Maybe not your mail man, but there are well recompensed gov. employees and contractors, especially commensurate with experience. The highest paid government employee in each state is either the football or basketball coach of the division 1 state university. Doctors might not make as much as they can underneath the current back-room deal by which insurance companies and medical conglomerates squeeze as much as they can out of the people--but then Doctors wouldn't be making as much beneath a rigorously defended open market system either.

fwiw,
Guacamole, M.D. (Molcajete Doctorate)

So in your opinion we should waste our tax dollars to make our doctors rich, then? The money we pay the doctors in a government run healthcare system comes from our pockets. I thought the idea was to have affordable healthcare, not rich doctors?

[Bill the Cat]

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
-Margaret Thatcher

See Venezuela...

[JimL]

Of course now she is getting all kinds of grief. But where on earth does this idea of health care being a "right" come from? Certainly not the Constitution.

Health care is nothing in and of itself, it is what we as a people decide it is. We on the left believe it should be a right, that we want to live in a country where health care is a right, you conservatives think it should be a privilege, that only those who are fortunate enough or wealthy enough should have it. Funny thing is, most of you on the right seem to think that health care is a right as well, but only if you're dying.

[guacamole]

So in your opinion we should waste our tax dollars to make our doctors rich, then? The money we pay the doctors in a government run healthcare system comes from our pockets. I thought the idea was to have affordable healthcare, not rich doctors?

You're not really paying attention. Either way we're using our dollars to make the doctors rich. Maybe if we cut out the insurance distribution system, we save money by not making the administrators and investors rich along the way.

fwiw,
guacamole

[Mountain Man]

Health care is nothing in and of itself, it is what we as a people decide it is. We on the left believe it should be a right, that we want to live in a country where health care is a right, you conservatives think it should be a privilege, that only those who are fortunate enough or wealthy enough should have it. Funny thing is, most of you on the right seem to think that health care is a right as well, but only if you're dying.

So if it's a right then please answer my question:

Should the government force people to become doctors to ensure adequate services for anybody who wants to exercise their "right" to healthcare?

[guacamole]

So if it's a right then please answer my question:

Should the government force people to become doctors to ensure adequate services for anybody who wants to exercise their "right" to healthcare?

By force do you mean "bribe with high salaries and benefits" because if there were a doctor shortage, I imagine that's what would happen, no?

fwiw,
gcml