Should Healthcare Be Considered A Privilege Essay

In my opinion, I believe that healthcare should be a right but unfortunately, in America, it is treating as a privilege. Even though some might disagree, I believe that healthcare should not be considered a privilege. This is clear by the words in our second amendment “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Knickman and Kovner 2015). This country, however, does a terrible job in budgeting health care costs. Before, the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 over 40 million people were without health insurance (Knickman and Kovner 2015). For example, my friend’s son was diagnosed with chronic Cystic Fibrosis that required lungs transplant. The hospital denied him and stated, “You are not a transplant candidate”. My friend asked

This is not a bad thing, as long as the same rules govern all states and healthcare systems equally. The issues that government activated programs such as Medicare, Medicaid or ACA are facing comes from the way the program lacks proper oversights, limited to inequalities in access, the inflation of cost on healthcare and lack of physician’s incentives. According to Knickman & Kovner, the patient protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has reduced the number of people who lack insurance within the United States (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). Also, according to Laureate Education, after Medicare was passed in the 1960s, "our population has become chronically ill", which can be attributed to the lack of personal responsibility on healthcare consumers and failed quality control on a government-run insurance planned (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012). It could be argued that on many levels, the lack of properly funded universal health care affects not only the health of the American people but also the economic strength of the nation. The high and escalating out-of-pocket costs of medical care are forcing families to delay mortgage payments, sell their homes, and cut back on normal household expenses. Retired families are forced to spend their savings for health care