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Universal Access For Affordable Health Care

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Whether universal access to affordable health care is something every individual has a right to or something they must earn is definitely a controversial topic. While most agree that the current health care system in the United States is one that needs work, many continue to argue about the notion of universal access to health care and if it’s truly what’s best for a nation. In reality, access to affordable health care is a human right to all persons in the world, and is something that all should aim to achieve. To elaborate, a human right refers to a universal basic standard of freedoms to which all persons are gifted with at birth. The idea that universal access to affordable health care is a human right is further supported by the …show more content…

While this seems like a small percentage of the overall American population, the reality is that uninsured individuals are often completely unable to get any type of health care treatment unless they go to the emergency room, where hospitals are not allowed to deny them treatment based on citizenship or inability to pay due to laws such as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.
However, even then uninsured patients are often left in debt from their hospital bills, or are less likely to be given the care they need in a timely manner. For instance, data collected from patients who were harmed in car accidents in the state of Wisconsin showed that patients who did not have health insurance received twenty percent less care and had a thirty-seven percent higher death rate than emitted patients who had health insurance coverage (Doyle). Similarly, studies show that in the United States, both medical bills and illnesses account for half of all personal bankruptcies (Redmond). In the end, without being given universal access to affordable health care, individuals suffer great consequences, and have a less adequate chance of survival.
One such definition that has become commonly attached to human rights is that they refer to something every individual deserves, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, religion, and economic background. Often people are unable to get access to health care treatment due to lack

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