Is HealthCare a Privilege or a Right?
Not too long ago I was quick to think that healthcare is a privilege. Now having taken a look at some different perspectives I have come to realize that this question is more complex than I first thought. The fact of the matter is that healthcare is both a right and privilege depending on the individual/group and can be noted in our standing insurance system.
Medicare/ Medicaid
The two most well-known programs being Medicare and Medicaid, both are intended to help the out vulnerable individuals get access to medical services. Medicare was created to help older American and certain disabled individuals. Medicaid is available to low-income Americans. According to AARP, Medicare covers more than 49 million Americans, and Medicaid has an enrollment of 3.5 million. What this shows is that such programs do helps by paying for the healthcare needs of low- income people, and reduces hospital’s load of unpaid care.
So, if healthcare is a right, then how much is enough? How much healthcare can society, (i.e taxpayers) be expected to fund? However, there are limits and restrictions to federal health care assistance programs. There are a select number doctor’s that take public health care insurance federal health care assistance. These programs are meant to take away the burden of doctor’s visits, but in truth it only adds to it. There a lot of hoops one must go through even before receiving any kind of aid. The application process is a long hassle that can require multiple trips to the respective office(s). And then there is the wait to find out if you qualified. Then once you have been informed you need to go through the approved list of physicians and then hope that she/he does accept the insurance- this list is not always up to date. Finally, after all that is when you can say you have a doctor. However, that does not ensure that you like said doctor, but after jumping through all those hopes is it worth trying to find a new one?
Private Insurance
So, looking at private insurance there is a more notable sense of the managed care. There are Health Maintenance Organizations or Preferred Provider Organization, the point of service for both being that either plan provides more flexibility in choosing doctors and hospitals. According to CDC the percentage of people with private insurance is as follows: 65.6% of persons under 65, 54.7% of children under the age of 18, and 69.7% of adults aged 18–64. The drawback of private insurance being the cost, most of the time these insurances require the person to pay out of pocket. Skyrocketing costs are a part of the problem. The private insurers are another.
Alternative Forms of Medication
Because of the rising costs in health care many people are turning to alternative medicine as an affordable form of medicine. Many Americans- more than thirty percent of adults and about twelve percent of child use complementary medicine . Herb treatment, acupuncture, homeopathy- nowadays people are surrounded by these names and it’s nothing new that some leave traditional methods and replace them by unconventional ones. When all conventional treatments disappoint us we automatically search for something new. Alternative medicine offers whole- person treatments, whereas traditional medicine views disease as a separately from the person who carries it. It also provides personal attention ; each treatment is as per person need of the individual patient . But like traditional medicine, alternative medicine does have its drawbacks. For one alternative medicine is not completely reliable and can be a lengthy process- because alternative therapies work on eradicating the problem at its root. As someone going into the medical field this is important to recognize because this growing interest of an alternative form of treatment. It is important to realize that this option has gained popularity because people feel that they have no other means of obtaining health care.
I have had first hand experience with non-mainstream practice. Growing up I would see my parents get sick and still manage to go to work because we could not afford for them to take a day. We couldn’t even afford for either one of them to go to a doctor because they had no insurance. Due to the rising costs of health care, my parents reverted to traditional forms of medicine. Or if the situation would become complicated my parents would plan a visit to El Salvador, during which time they would plan a trip to the doctor.
Final Thoughts
This argument is not something that is new. Looking to the past one can see how health care was considered a privilege. It took revolution of a hospital — Santa Maria de la Scala, in Italy to realize that health of its all the people in the community it worth looking after. But the reform also showed how healthcare is a right, having the people take over the hospital showed was a sign that patient care was improving.
Those already within the healthcare field lean towards healthcare being a right. After all, there are laws put into place for the interest of the patients for example, patient confidentiality and informed consent. Doctors do not care about gender, race, size, etc. they care about the patient outcome. Doctors do everything in their power to ensure that they are providing the best treatment that they can deliver. But as someone who has been on the lower spectrum of the health care system I can see how healthcare can be viewed at a privilege.
Call to Action!
Until these problems are all addressed, health care reform will go nowhere. It will remain a patchwork attempting to satisfy both ends, but satisfying neither. This is where we, the hopeful faces of medicine come into play (or simply those who seek change), we must start asking the hard questions in order to get reaction from those that can make change possible, possible.