An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Health Care NOT a “Right”
Debate: Is Health Care a Right?
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., March 31, 2008–On Wednesday, April 9 at 7:00 PM, the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, will hold the fourth event of its National Discussion and Debate Series. At Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, four participants will argue the proposed resolution: “Americans have a fundamental right to health care and it is the obligation of government to secure that right.”
Susan Dentzer, Health Correspondent for PBS’s The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will moderate. Download Press Release [PDF]
Supporting the resolution:
- JudyAnn Bigby, MD, Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Regina Herzlinger, Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration Chair, Harvard Business School
Opposing:
- Richard K. Armey, Chairman, FreedomWorks, and former U.S. House Majority Leader (1995-2003)
- Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Background:
This white paper lays out the major issues of the debate over health care as a right. Its authors are Arthur Garson, Jr., Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Virginia and former Dean of the U.Va. School of Medicine, and Carolyn L. Engelhard, Assistant Professor of medical education and health policy analyst at U.Va.’s School of Medicine.
Garson and Engelhard looked at the goals, realities, and frustrations of the issue in an excellent Miller Center Forum on March 10. Download transcript [PDF]
More information, including biographies of the debaters, research, lesson plans, news, audio, and video, is available online at www.millercenter.org/debates.
The debate, the fourth in a series of five taking place during the 2007-08 academic year, will be webcast live and archived, along with the transcript, on the Miller Center’s web site (www.millercenter.org). It will be broadcast on PBS analog and digital channels nationwide (check local listings for details). The conversation has already started online, via interactive group pages on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo.
The National Discussion and Debate Series, the Miller Center’s newest initiative, is addressing major issues facing the United States. It aims to examine these issues in depth, and to contribute to the national conversation with a genuine, thoughtful give-and-take that will both enlighten people and provoke dialogue.
Read the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s take on our March 6 religion debate.
The first debate, on keeping American troops in Iraq, took place on Sept. 18 in the historic Dome Room of the University of Virginia’s Rotunda in Charlottesville, Va. The second, on privacy and national security, occurred on Nov. 13 in Washington, D.C. The third, on religion and public life, took place on March 6 in Richmond, Va. The final debate, on immigration, will take place on May 15 in New York.
Video and transcripts are archived online:
http://www.millercenter.org
/debates/iraq http://www.millercenter.org
/debates/privacy http://www.millercenter.org
/debates/religion
A right? Where in the world did anyone get the idea that health care was a RIGHT? I’ve never seen anywhere in the Constitution of the United States that anyone has a right to health care. ACCESS to health care should be obvious. But a right? Take that crack pipe away from these yahoos, and get them into an intervention program…..ASAP!
Courtesy of Blue Collar Muse
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Hmmmm. Sounds like the same people who somehow think the right to privacy means it’s OK to kill babies…….
Yup!
and it is the obligation of government to secure that right.
Hrm. Governments that have taken on that responsibility end up denying health care to arbitrary populations.
I keep feeling like something has gotten lost somewhere along the way……are WE the government? Or at least, suppose to be? sigh….
You absolutely hit the nail on the head — this is exactly the kind of discussion we hope to have with the debate. We wanted to pick a resolution that would move the conversation toward a concrete discussion about solutions to the crisis, regardless of whether you think the resolution makes sense.
We’ll be webcasting it live on our site next Wednesday — I’d love to get your thoughts about how you think the conversation went. Thanks so much.
Lisa Todorovich
Miller Center of Public Affairs
No offense Miss Todorovich, but there shouldn’t even be need for a conversation. The health care should be returned to the private sector, the lawyers need to get out of it (TORT reform), the government should have no say in the matter what so ever. Doctors are leaving their profession BECAUSE of the interference, on the local and state level. We do NOT need socialized medicine. Honestly, I’d much rather have a GOOD doctor, than one provided by the government.
HMO’s have also ruined the medical community. Co-pay this, supplement that….it has driven the cost of a doctor’s visit sky high. With insurance is higher…without, is about half the cost.
If I am able, I will watch the ‘conversation’ with an open mind. And thanks for stopping by!
No offense taken!
Given how many people are either uninsured or underinsured, and all of the complications with “the system,” people are incredibly frustrated with the way things are set up now. The Forum that’s mentioned in the press release is a great example — the guests work in the U.Va. med school and teach and consult on health policy, and I think everyone in the audience (myself included) was just amazed by how out of whack things have gotten. Probably the one thing we can all agree on is that what we have really isn’t working.
Thanks, and I’m looking forward to continuing reading your blog.
The number of underinsured, or uninsured is misleading. When you add in all the illegals, yes, the number is quite large. However, if you are here illegally, you have NO right to anything within our borders, other than being treated for the most serious of injuries or illnesses, and even then, you should at least make an attempt to pay for said services. Many don’t have insurance because they have changed jobs, and the insurance hasn’t kicked in. Then, there are people like me, whose insurance has gone up to an astronomical amount, who pays for catastrophic insurance. I pay for my doctor’s visits, and the amount charged if HALF of what they charge insurance companies.
The biggest problem I see you have are the ‘teachers and consultants’. Those can’t do, teach! Those who want bilk you, consult!
To the people above who claim that insurance isn’t a right, I hope it happens to you, that you are seriously injured or get sick - then you will find out the nightmare of trying to get treated in this country. You will lose your home; your cars, all your toys, and I mean everything, then you will lose your friends, and family (because they will not understand), then when you have lost everything you worked for all your life, you file for bankruptcy, and most likely fall into depression, you can think of the money saved by the insurance industry just so they could pay out nice returns on their quarterly stock report. Maybe a son or daughter will die too, because they call a procedure ” experimental” that means they aren’t paying for it. Of course who ends up paying is taxpayers anyway, and they have ruined an entire family, way to go America, everyone at the Country Club is having a good ole time at your expense.
@mark:
Been there, done that bud. And I will still tell you….HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT!
I don’t know what rock some of you people crawl out from under. Where on earth do you get the idea you have a right to much of anything? Oh yeah, cuz the gubmint tells you so.
olbroad, what rock did you crawl out from under, I like the way you spell government, I bet you talk the same way, you must be a sight. This is why we are in the the condition we’re in (in this country) because you obviously aren’t a thinking gal. Well, hopefully you will die soon and all your offspring, God help us if you had any. You can start the banjo music now!
Gracious sakes…. How did you know I was a gap toothed, trailer park trash, pluckin’ my five string banjo that has only 3 strings, cuz I’m just too ig’rant to get new ‘uns.
New England libs are probably the most pathetic creatures, next to the California libs. It’s a type of lib, not just a location, fyi. I can tell you’re not quite bright enough to figure that out for yourself, so I thought I’d give you a little assistance.
The reason we are in such a mess in the this country is because people like YOU insist on sucking the life out of people who work hard to get what they got. I don’t owe you a damn thing, and neither does anyone else. Get off your high horse!
Oh, I actually speak rather proper English. The spelling of government is a joke. Liberals have NO sense of humor. sigh…