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Healthcare and Universal Coverage

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Submitted By annettejd
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The constitution is always brought up when discussing whether healthcare is a right or a privilege. “ If we interpreted our Constitution correctly, America was built on the principle that government exists to protect our rights that already exist, not dictate what rights we have, do not have or should have,” (Williams,2012).

I do not thing that healthcare is a right or a privilege. If referring to the constitution, it states “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our nation was built on the notion of the free market. Healthcare is provided through public and private sectors. “f we want to live out the liberties granted to us by our Founders, we should reserve our right to purchase healthcare on the free market, allowing opportunities for those to purchase at affordable rates, not by allowing healthcare controlled by bureaucrats,” (Williams, 2012).

The problem comes due to our entitlement generation. I do believe that basic health needs should be given to all people. Due to constant medical and technological growth, healthcare is more expensive and more advanced. I do not think that all advanced medicine needs to be provided equally to all people. Basic healthcare needs to be identified and provided for all individuals, but the individual can purchase “luxury” healthcare at leisure. Our generation feels that they are entitled to every aspect of healthcare. The healthcare market is a business like any other and the conglomerates and insurance companies want to make money, mostly at the expense of the physicians. In a perfect world “incentives are in alignment among providers, patients, and society…The Institute of Medicine’s goal to forge a healthcare system that is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.” Unfortunately, the intrinsic incentives for system components (doctors, hospitals, and patients) necessary to

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