The Second Presidential Debate

October 7, 2008
Tom Brokaw: Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?
John McCain: I think it’s a responsibility…
Barack Obama: Well, I think it should be a right for every American…
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/second-presidential-debate.html

Asking whether health care is a privilege or a right often leads to a not very productive ’tis so, ’tis not debate. But when the question is asked with the added choice of responsibility, and then answered, the answers can be very revealing.
If you believe that health care should be an individual responsibility, you might design reform based on a relatively unregulated market of private health plans.
If you believe that health care should be a right, you might design reform based on social solidarity with government guaranteeing that all of us receive the care that we need.
Proposals floated during political campaigns are rarely the final definitive proposals, especially with an issue as complex as our dysfunctional health care financing system. But it is important to understand the fundamental beliefs of those who we would elect to establish new policies addressing the problems that we face. A system that honors the right for everyone to obtain the health care that they need will look very different from a system that assigns the responsibility for obtaining health care to the individual.

October 7, 2008

Tom Brokaw: Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?

John McCain: I think it’s a responsibility…

Barack Obama: Well, I think it should be a right for every American…

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/second-presidential-debate.html

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Asking whether health care is a privilege or a right often leads to a not very productive ’tis so, ’tis not debate. But when the question is asked with the added choice of responsibility, and then answered, the answers can be very revealing.

If you believe that health care should be an individual responsibility, you might design reform based on a relatively unregulated market of private health plans.

If you believe that health care should be a right, you might design reform based on social solidarity with government guaranteeing that all of us receive the care that we need.

Proposals floated during political campaigns are rarely the final definitive proposals, especially with an issue as complex as our dysfunctional health care financing system. But it is important to understand the fundamental beliefs of those who we would elect to establish new policies addressing the problems that we face. A system that honors the right for everyone to obtain the health care that they need will look very different from a system that assigns the responsibility for obtaining health care to the individual.