Is Health care a right?

 

Health care is a right?

In the recent political campaign one of the candidates stated that health care was a right. 

 

The last time I read the constitution of the United States the only rights were life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The bill of rights does not mention health care or anything about health. 

Our founding fathers did not have health insurance. When I started practice only ten percent of my patients had health insurance. Since then we have had Medicare and recently universal health care. 

I have in my possession a document written by a classmate from medical school. The title was “Nobody’s money"

 

That is what this is all about. The cost of health care has risen exponentially. When I went into practice in 1965 the doctors in town were charging $3 for a routine office call. When I left practice in 1996 I was charging $35 for a routine office call. Now I have seen office calls for $100 and higher. 

Someone has to pay the office calls. Medical care whether an office visit or a surgical procedure needs to be reimbursed. If the individual cannot pay, who will?

The way insurance works is that people pay premiums and then the insurance company invests the money and then pays the providers. If the insurance company looses money, they raise the premiums. When I was on the board of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wyoming we lost a million dollars one year. Fortunately we had the money in reserve.  We had to raise the rates. Some one had to pay for the losses and it was those who were insured.

 

In the case of the government sponsored health care the government taxes the people so they can pay the health care provider. The majority of people do not think about where the money comes from as long as they do not have to pay the bill. 

Let us take a hypothetical comparison. 

The Volkswagen (people’s car) was a promise that Hitler made to the German people. He promised that every household in Germany would own an auto. In this case we could say that ownership of a car was a right. So let us go to the car dealership and tell them which car we want. When they ask us how we are going to pay for it, we just say that the government will pay for it. Do you think that the dealer will buy into that?

We could use the same analogy for a grocery market. Everyone needs food. Therefore food is a right. We go to the market and fill our basket and go to the checkout counter and tell them that the government will pay the bill. Perhaps the clerk will laugh and call the people with the straight jackets and take us to the "funny farm". 

 

The fact that someone says that Health care is a right in order to get people to vote for them does not make it so.  People today think that it is Nobody's money and they are entitled to health insurance to pay the bill and that someone else will pick up the tab. 

There is a German song that I learned on my mission.  "Wer soll dass bezahlen?

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Translated it means who is going to pay for it. Until the Savior comes, we will be on a basis of everyone will be responsible for their own bills.  We may find that insurance helps with that, but we need to remember that the money has to come from someplace.

 

We have lived in areas of the world where universal health care is granted to all, but it is not what it is cracked up to be. The waiting time for elective procedures can be very long and the care as compared to what is available in the United States is substandard. 

 

Do not be deceived by those who are advocating anything that does not require effort and sacrifice. That is not the plan we voted for in the preexistence.