SOCHOM Committee Analysis

418) This question seems like it should have an obvious answer; quality healthcare should be considered a right for all mankind. Everyone should have access to the necessities of life needed to maintain their health and well-being. When it comes to poverty and healthcare, one issue that stands out in my mind is the lack of easily accessible clean drinking water available throughout the world, and the issues which arise from it. Unsafe water supplies not only cause illness and death, but also create more social issues for areas which lack this resource and the means to develop it. One of these issues includes the limiting of education and economic advancement for women, due to the burden of tasks such as walking long distances to collect clean drinking water daily. These countries also face diseases, such as malaria, which can be

I strongly believe that healthcare is a basic human right; however, the reality is that health care is often based on privilege and/or driven by employer benefits. There are many factors to consider when discussing healthcare as a basic human right. All individuals, regardless of income, race, or status should be treated equally when it comes to safe, effective, and quality health care. Even though I believe healthcare should be a human right, we have to consider how this would be feasible among different populations and societies. According toMaruthappu, Ologunde, and Gunarajasingam (2012) “a fundamental difficulty with considering healthcare as a right is that this right, unlike many others, is dependent upon the resources of a society,

Universal healthcare coverage allows individuals to use promotive, preventative, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services (WHO) . Universal coverage fulfills the following characteristics:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, and housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (United Nations Declaration of Human Rights).The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights immediately brought about a change to the world as a whole. Not only did they decide it inhuman to keep health care from citizens, but they set out other standards of

As Americans we should all be afforded access to healthcare. Access to healthcare is an individual right according to the human rights amendment. The human right to health guarantees a system of health protection for all. The human right to health means that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes access to all medical services, sanitation, adequate food, decent housing, healthy working conditions and a clean environment (What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care, 2015). However there are strengths and weaknesses to every healthcare system and the U.S. Healthcare system is not exempt. I plan to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the U. S. Healthcare system (What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care, 2015).

Without our health, we have nothing. Money, friends and family, happiness--all are afterthoughts without our health. As such, both as individuals and as a society, maintaining our health must be an indispensable priority. Despite the many faults of our healthcare system, Americans realize this. Healthcare is undoubtedly a major concern in the United States. The recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “Obamacare,” the heated debates on healthcare across the nation, and the over one trillion dollars spent per year by the government on healthcare, all show our prioritization of health ("Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go"). Furthermore, a strong majority of

Healthcare should be a right for all U.S. citizens because not only would it drastically lower costs from the current healthcare system for both the individual and the government, but also greatly improve healthcare rankings and satisfy the majority of the population. By expanding coverage to all U.S. citizens, universal healthcare would significantly lower healthcare costs for both the individual and the government. Without a doubt, something should be done to fix the current healthcare system; it is just a matter of what should be done. Over the past several years, the cost of healthcare in the U.S. has risen significantly and does not seem to lower, surpassing “$2.2 trillion in 2007”. Universal Health Care is a "Social Program", not "socialized medicine"; under Universal Health Care, one can choose any doctor(s) or public hospital (A "private" hospital, even in the U.S.A. today, is just that. A hospital that is exclusive to the general population according to the wealth and contacts of an individual. There is no "out of network" doctor, hospital or medical facility in the program.

Universal Healthcare will increase accessibility, by eliminating the ability of major insurance companies to discriminate, based on pre-existing conditions and other exclusions to care. A key debated issue with Universal Healthcare is whether healthcare is a basic right under life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, or a privilege. Universal Healthcare is built on the idea of healthcare being a basic human right. As a basic right, all citizens regardless of pre-existing conditions or disabilities would have the right to necessary healthcare. According to Jerry Levinson,

“Health care is an essential requirement for well being” (Maruthappu). All over the world, health care is a constant concern because of the difficulty maintaining quality and affordability. In the United States, health care reform has been a huge debate topic. The purpose of health care is to satisfy the medical needs of an individual. However, many Americans consider health care a “luxury,”because millions of low-income families cannot afford the same care as the middle or high class. In this case, the right to quality and affordable health care is not extended to all Americans. Universal health care will ensure a higher life expectancy, reduce the cost of medical treatment through a single-payer method, and improve medical treatments.

One of the great hypocrisies of American culture is found in its health care system. The United States claims in its Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and that all of these men have the inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet this is the same country that allows over 120 people to die each day because they are uninsured. How can this nation claim that all are created equal and have a right to life when they deny healthcare to those who cannot afford it? This issue has come on the scene relatively soon, having only truly been discussed beginning in the early 20th century. Since that time, a fear of socialism stemming from tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the century has placed a stigma on the concept of universal health care because it is similar to the Soviet’s socialized medicine. In recent years, President Obama made great strides toward universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, but some would argue that while America is on the right track, more can be done to care for the nation’s poor. Others argue that the economic impact of such policies could cause problems for America. Though creating a universal health care system has complex logistical and economic consequences, health care is an internationally acknowledged human right and should not be denied to the American people.

We live in a world where universal healthcare should not be looked upon as a privilege but a necessity. Our great country, the United States has always prided itself in setting a precedent, from democracy, with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to Industrialization and the rise of big business, when the country rose as a world power we faced opposition; however, we overcame hardships, joining the United Nations, working towards equal basic rights for peoples across the globe. Our country has demonstrated many improvements, for not just the world, but for its people, its citizens, an end to child labor in the 20th century, a standard minimum wage and the right to an abortion, our freedoms have always been fought for. However,

Healthcare is the improvement of physical and mental health through the assistance of medical services. The right to health care is an internationally recognized human right. In 1948, 48 nations, including the United States, signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “In this document it is stated that everyone should have the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of oneself and one’s family, including medical care” (Right to Health Care ProCon.org). People have the right to receive the health care they deserve regardless of the costs. It is a basic human right to be provided with the medical care and assistance needed to live.

Ethnic and racial disparities in the health system will expand if the new policy reform takes place. Blacks and Hispanics in the United States will suffer most if they are denied services because of their health status. Under the current Affordable Care Act that was signed in 2010, insurers did not have the power to reject or deny coverage to anyone based on their health status but the new reform represents a violation of human rights where equality to access health insurance is threatened. Under Article 15 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to medical care and the right to security in the case of sickness “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). In enacting the repeal of ACA and denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, the United States is standing against its promises and commitment from its international treaty obligations to end racial discrimination in health care access. In addition, the U.S has accepted its obligations to stop discrimination in the health system by its agreements with the international

There are two type of human rights: those that are intrinsic, ones that we would still hold if there were no structured society or laws (for example, the right to adequate food), and those that are socially and politically constructed, meaning rights that exist because of conversation, agreements, ordinances, and laws (for example, healthcare) (Taylor, 2010). It would be hard to make an argument for health care as an intrinsic right but I would, and will in the next part of this paper, argue for healthcare as a political right. The General Assembly of the United Nations presented this exact argument when it included access to healthcare on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including healthcare as an inalienable right that should be provided to the people (Assembly, 1948). Despite its inclusion on this document though, the United States is among a minority of wealthy nations that do not provide health care to its people. We as citizens of the United States must come to determine what “counts among [us] as just and unjust” (Rawls, 1971, p. 11) and what “is rational for [us] to pursue” (Rawls, 1971, p. 11) as a nation and what we view as rights for our people. Shafer-Landau suggests several constraints of thinking that are important in this

Social justice is a long debated subject that continues to prove controversial and divisive all over the world. Opinions on what constitutes social justice vary on a continuum from more conservative opinions which note individual responsibility to a more liberal stance which promotes a moral responsibility to support social equality (Mapp, 2008). Despite the varying opinions of what establishes social justice, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) serves as the first step in promoting social justice by outlining the basic rights that should be afforded to humanity (United Nations, n.d.). More specifically, Article 22 of the UDHR states that all people should have access to social security protection that works to provide essential needs, provisions for preserving dignity, and freedom to pursue personal interest (United Nations, n.d.). In spite of the established declaration, social justice remains unavailable for too many people. Worldwide, the lack of social protection leads to 1.4 billion people struggling to meet their essential needs due to lack of access to resources which promote a decent standard of living. Another 100 million fall into poverty due to unforeseen complications (GIPSPSI, 2011). Therefore, there is a crucial need to recognize social protection as a human right in order to guarantee equal access to basic services and equal opportunity to all of humankind.