Friday, October 24, 2008

Is health a right?

Is health a right?

Here's a definition of a right:
"In a civilized society, education is a right. Some services we may pay for but society still treats them as rights: In any developed society, we expect to have water, electricity, even phone service (in the U.S., we all pay fees to assure that everyone can get a line)." The writer's asking if the Internet is a right More here...
What about health?

Is health a right?

In a developed society, should we each expect to have health? Like water and electricity? I.e. it's something "others" provide?
Or is health a personal choice? Like being an entrepreneur? A person chooses how they eat, drink and live. And they're responsible for the results.
Vote top right on this page.
"No" means you believe health is not a right - that each individual is responsible for their health (I do not refer to health insurance.)

"Yes" means you think health is a right - something that others, like the government, should be responsible for giving you.
(Again, you are not voting on health insurance, but the health of each individual, including weight, fatigue, etc.)

2 comments:

Robin Plan said...

My vote is No health is not a right for everyone. I have taken responsiblity for my health and my family. If we kept eating lousy and got sick it would have been our own fault.

If I followed the government's recommendations about the food to eat or not to eat I would still be taking Alka Seltzer everyday. So I know for me and my family we are responsible for our health.

Robin
www.wholefoodandmoreblog.com

Dean said...

My first thought was that you are asking the wrong question that the question should be “do I believe that health care should be a right?” Health is a choice in what we eat and drink, what our environment is like, how active we are, and a number of other factors. Then I thought OK Health should be a right in the sense that we have access to a clean toxic free environment, healthy food and clean pure water available to us. Then we can pursue health just like we pursue happiness.