Health Care Cannot Be a Right

Why Health Care Cannot be a Right
As Bob Ellis has argued in a post today, health care for all would require imposing on some citizens the burden of bearing the cost of the “right” for others. No right given by God and recognized in our Constitution contains similar requirements. A true “right” cannot demand the labor of others. A “right” is self-sufficient, requiring nothing of others except their respect.

If, however, the argument is that health care should be a right for all Americans because it is something we all need and it is fundamental to living a healthy, productive life, then let’s get even more fundamental. How about universal housing for all Americans? Yes, I know that is basically what was tried that led to the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but seriously, shelter is one of our most basic needs. Why shouldn’t government provide it for everyone?

And if housing is a fundamental right, how about clothing? Millions of Americans are inadequately clothed and would be healthier and happier if only this basic need was provided by government.

Alright then, what about food? We all need daily sustenance and who can deny that millions of Americans do not get an adequate diet and are deficient in many important nutrients. How can a wealthy country like the United States stand by and let this happen? Shouldn’t we be advocating "universal groceries" for all Americans?

Of course, these proposals are absurd. America was built by self-reliant men and women who were willing to work hard and sacrifice much to achieve their dreams. Even the suggestion of government hand-outs would have been thought un-American to these hardy souls. They could never have imagined that one day their progeny would be greedily pawing their way to the teats of the great government sow.

The promise of universal health care is not what it is claimed to be. It is an axiom of economics that when something is free (or perceived to be free) then supply can never meet demand. Consider the example of free food for all Americans. If it were announced today that the government would begin providing free food for everyone the supermarket shelves would be bare by evening. It would take a massive government bureaucracy to control and ration food distribution and still many people would be dissatisfied claiming that they got only frozen chicken when their neighbors got fresh T-bone steak. With increased demand the government would have to reduce payments to the food producers (in order to control costs) and their production would reasonably decline further exacerbating the shortage of supply relative to demand. This is precisely what happened in the former Soviet Union. Most of us remember seeing newsreels of Muscovites standing in long lines to get into a market and once inside finding that most everything was gone and the shelves were bare. That, friends, is what healthcare will become if given over to government bureaucrats.