The Right to Healthcare

Do people have the natural right to health coverage? I have thought long and hard on this topic. I was on the fence on this subject until about 6 hours ago when I found myself sitting in the emergency room with my daughter. After six long hours our emergency room stay was over. I was very frustrated to say the least. For four of those hours I sat in the waiting room with a child who has a broken elbow. The emergency room was packed and the kids that where in there could have been seen at a regular doctor office or even taken care of at home. When sitting there and listening to some of the people talking, one lady said "the only way we get seen is in the E.R. because I can't afford insurance and they ain't gonna get the money from me." I thought to myself "really"? I am fortunate enough to have health insurance and feel that someone taking advantage of the system really infuriates me. I pay my premiums and should not have to wait 6 hours to have my daughters broken elbow diagnosis. This is what the Emergency Room is for, not because your child has a running nose. Obviously the child wasn't too sick, since he was running and standing on top of the tables being loud and the mother did nothing but play on her cell phone, paying no mind to what her son was doing.

According to the US Census Bureau 46.3 million people in the US were uninsured in 2008. The health care expenditures totaled $2.2 trillion in 2007, that is 16.2% of the US GDP (ProCon.org, 2011). Health care is the largest industry in the US, employing more than 14 million people. The healthcare industry is always growing and in need of qualified workers.

"America is the only wealthy democracy that fails to offer all its residents health insurance. Our country has the resources to fulfill its promise of equal opportunity by providing affordable and cost-effective comprehensive health coverage. This would increase our quality of life by reducing disease and disability, and by freeing families from the fear of losing everything if they have unexpected health care costs" (DSAUSA, 2011).

Healthcare should be a natural right to obtain. Some of the reasons why I believe healthcare should be a natural right is medical services should be based on medical need, not the ability to pay. When more people can afford to go to doctors and clinics, more problems are caught early, before they become expensive crises or life-long disabilities. People would use hospital emergency rooms only for real emergencies, not because they couldn't afford to go to a doctor's office or clinic (DSAUSA, 2011). Lastly, if every American had the natural right to healthcare, we would have a single-payer which would alleviate the competition among private insurers in our current system. This obviously has not resulted in lower healthcare costs currently. Their profits more than doubled in four years while premiums