Originally Posted by Sini
Originally Posted by Derid
Originally Posted by Sini

Access to Healthcare is a fundamental human right.

I'm still curious how you came to that assertion.


Maslow's hierarchy of needs. How could you have democratic egalitarian society when such fundamental need is not satisfied? You are potentially putting basic survival against higher logic and altruism and counting on later to win sufficiently big to have rational and fiscally responsible government.

For example, seniors would vote for expanding medicare coverage over other convictions. They don't care about costs - they will be long since dead when debt crushes the economy. Hence "Keep government hands off my medicare" protesters. As a result you have pandering or no-integrity politicians getting elected.


I see what you are saying, but I still think calling it a right is a bridge too far. The difference might seem minor to you, but I think it is extremely important. Safeguarding actual rights justifies an entirely different magnitude of morally justifiable means, for starters. Rights also aren't subject to vagaries of circumstance, such as availability of resources - nor can a true right compel others to particular actions, they are negative in nature. If you accept that anything you personally feel desirable can arbitrarily be called a right, you open the door for anyone to do the same. That is an extremely dangerous line of thinking, that is antithetical to any free society - and in fact is best represented by your own example of people who want their medicare untouched despite the cost.

It would be better, and much safer to articulate a principle that it is good policy for wealthy societies to set a floor on the standard of living beneath which no citizen need descend. You can achieve similar goals, in a manner that doesn't directly draw from a line of thinking that justifies any tyranny in service to a supposed "good"

tldr; Having safety nets and social services does not necessarily preclude nor induce tyranny or other forms of social deterioration, while arbitrarily embracing things as human rights simply because you find them desirable or a utilitarian argument could be made on its behalf, will.

For who could be free when every other man's humour might domineer over him? - John Locke (2nd Treatise, sect 57)