Thread: Life: An Unalienable Privilege?

I asked to have this thread moved from the nonfiction forum to the debate forum, being that it seemed to be getting some people upset. All the critiques posted up to 7-17-11 (my comment was the last) were posted in the nonfiction forum -- some of them were removed. Thanks for reading, and have at it...

What monetary value would you place on a human life? Would race, sex, class, age, occupation, education, income or social status factor into your appraisal? Would you view a lower-class man living in the projects as a victim of his own laziness or inferiority, thus placing a lower value on his life than that of a wealthy neurosurgeon in the suburbs? As rhetorical and unethical as these questions may seem, disturbingly, our nation’s health care system has been answering them for many years. Our investor-owned, profit-driven health care system has substantially favored the “haves” for many years while leaving the “have-nots” to face premature death or a diminished quality of life, thus rendering them even less contributory and “valuable” to society. Until every American has affordable access to quality healthcare, the lives of the privileged will always be “worth more” than the deprived.

Of all wealthy, industrialized nations, the United States stands alone in lacking a universal health care system (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2004). Here, health is “for sale," and like any other service-based commodity, you get what you pay for or you get nothing because you can’t pay at all. To no surprise, a large number of people within the wealthiest nation in the world die because they can't afford to live. It is estimated that 45,000 preventable deaths occur annually (twelve per minute) due to the lack of health insurance—more than five times the amount of American lives in one year than what were lost on 9/11 and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. Are these 45,000 not also deserving of public compassion and outrage? Studies conducted by the CDC, a Federal agency of the Dept. of Health and Human Services, have revealed some alarming results. The risk of premature death is forty percent higher among the uninsured, regardless of habits, income, environment and lifestyle. The lack of health insurance now results in more deaths than what are caused by many common killer-diseases (American Journal of Public Health 2009).

A common complaint is that access for all will result in longer waits at the doctor’s office. This argument once again reflects upon a value being placed upon our lives—the privileged need others to remain deprived so that they can receive prompt quality care. Many uninsured that are chronically ill receive no medical care at all or seek treatment in an ER because regular physicians and specialists will not take them as patients. The uninsured further congest our emergency rooms with non-emergency issues as well. One in five people that visit an ER have no health insurance (CDC 2010). While longer delays with the family physician may very well occur, a long wait in an ER can prove to be much more stressful, if not painful.

We are all entitled to a fair shot at the American dream. With hard work, determination and doing things the right way, the sky is your limit in the land of opportunity... unless you get sick. In 2009, the American Journal of Medicine conducted a study which found that sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were filed due to illness and medical bills. This was before the housing bubble burst and economic collapse. Ninety-two percent of medical bankruptcies were due to unaffordable bills and forty-percent were due to sickness. The study found there to be a fifty-percent increase in filings over the course of only six years. It would be easy for one to dismiss these people as the "lazy non-contributors" of society who don't want to work or pay their debts. However, the study found just the opposite. The majority of those who filed were middle class people with college educations. Even more disturbing, the study found that over three-quarters of filings due to illness were by people who actually had insurance when their sickness started. Out-of-pocket expenses and employers dropping their coverage because they could no longer work were the main reasons for having to file. These people were contributors. They got sick and they lost their dream; they lost their "value". (ConsumerReportsHealth.org, 2009)

Even the most innocent—those we are supposed to value above all others, are falling victim to our health care system. One such victim was 12 year old Deamonte Driver. His mother could not find him a dentist that would accept medicaid and could not afford the eighty dollars it would have cost to get his tooth extracted. Deamonte eventually ended up in the Emergency Room where he was treated for multiple problems stemming from his abscessed tooth and then sent home. Unbeknownst to the doctors who treated him, the bacteria from his rotted tooth had spread to his brain, which caused him to be rushed back to the ER—too late. Eighty bucks—many of us spend that on dinner and a movie. Eighty bucks could have saved this child's life. (ChildrensDefense.org, 2010).

Those who have no access to health care are being denied a basic human right. Many view health care as a privilege, and will argue that any government attempt to reform it is a push towards socialism and undeserved entitlements. Over six decades ago, the United States voted in favor of a Universal Declaration—an international law that would define basic human rights for all people on Earth. “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services…” (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.) Of all the United Nations, only the United States has turned its back upon this virtue.

For those of us who might dismiss international laws pertaining to health care as some uni-government attempt at global control, we can also turn to our country's own forefathers to put their virtues in perspective. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…” (The Declaration of Independence, 1776). Without our health, the unalienable right to life is irrelevant.

Not only is the denial of health care a denial of the American dream, we are also preventing our nation from reaching its full potential. What if some of our country's greatest minds never had the chance to contribute to society because they had no doctor to diagnose the onset of chronic illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease? And imagine how many talented and gifted people never did get the chance—robbed of leaving their mark and making a difference because the numbness in their limbs, dizzy spells or severe headaches didn't just go away on their own as they had hoped, or they chose to put food on the table for their family or pay the mortgage instead of getting an xray, blood test or MRI. We live in the only wealthy, industrialized nation where health is a commodity and not recognized as a basic human right. As a result, people suffer and people die. It all comes down to value; how much is a human life worth—how much are 45,000 lives worth? In a system where the denial of care equals profit, the answer is apparently nothing. Aren't those who have been fighting to keep the status quo basically saying "let them die"? The debate over our recently legislated healthcare reform has focused primarily on cost; will is cost us or save us money? This is by no means unimportant, especially in the midst of our current economic distress. However, this subject cannot and should not be debated by anyone without acknowledging the lives and livelihoods at stake. In turn, if we as a society deem these people's lives as invaluable (as we should), we then need to ask ourselves two questions: Will humanity and morality ever be in the best financial interest of our insurance providers, and will people continue to go bankrupt, suffer and die if our government does not intervene? While many of us agree that the increasing government intervention in our lives can undoubtedly feel intrusive, we should also agree that health is a basic human right, and that no one life should be deemed more valuable than another.

References

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2004, 13 Jan). Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations

American Journal of Public Health (2009, December). Volume 99, No. 12, Health Insurance and Mortality in US Adults

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948, 10 December)

The Declaration of Independence (1776, 4 July)

ChildrensDefense.org, (2010). Real Stories of Uninsured Children

ConsumerReportsHealth.org (2009, 5 June). Health care related bankruptcy is on the rise, study says.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010, May) No. 38. Emergency Department Visitors and Visits: Who Used the Emergency Room in 2007?

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We have no more unalienable rights than a cockroach, we are accidents of a random and disinterested universe.

I think the universe is quite interested in us.

The purpose of this forum is critique, not debate. Could people please try and make comments a constructive critique of the writing rather than a discussion of, or flippant comments on, the topic?

Originally Posted by Baron

The purpose of this forum is critique, not debate. Could people please try and make comments a constructive critique of the writing rather than a discussion of, or flippant comments on, the topic?

Okay.

1) I think the word is ‘inalienable’ not ‘unalienable’.

That’s my critique out of the way.

2) It would seem the OP is seeking debate, with this comment:

this subject cannot and should not be debated by anyone without acknowledging the lives and livelihoods at stake.

3) If a majority of posters want to debate the topic rather than critique the writing, is that not in itself an indication of something? Perhaps the thread should be moved.

Unalienable Rights vs Inalienable Rights

I am not replying to knock anyone's critique, as they are all welcome. But if I may, I would like to include my own personal story. I am a hard-working person who holds himself accountable and have always carried health insurance for my family at a cost of $125 per week. With my wife's second pregnancy, she developed an acute case of hyperemesis. She could not keep any food down and I watched helplessly as she lost 30 pounds when she should have been gaining weight. She was hospitalized for over half the pregnancy. No drug would work and our doctor advised aborting the pregnancy because my wife's life was in danger. If it wasn't for the advice of our Pastor, we might have done it, and we still feel guilty about even considering it to this day. In a last ditch effort, we tried a drug that is prescribed for cancer patients and it worked enough to where she could keep some meals down. It was a miracle. However, when we went to fill the second prescription we were denied. The reason given by our insurance company: My wife was not a cancer patient. When I mentioned her poor state of health they told me that they do cover abortion. They were willing to pay to end our child's life but not help bring her into this world. Therefore, we spent our entire savings on this $135 per day medicine. When we ran out of money I had to watch her wither away again until our doctor discovered that there was a company that could provide a pump to administer the medication at home... total cost: $50,000. But the insurance compay had to pay for it because it was intravenous -- so we thought. Through it all, we were finally blessed with our baby girl. But the insurance company denied paying for everything; the hospital stays, the pump--everything. They stated this was because my wife's complicated pregnancy was due to a condition that existed before she was added to my policy when we were married. The final bill: $250,000. Not only was our savings gone, we were forced into bankruptcy. This had nothing to do with excercising, eating right, etc. We did everything how we were supposed to and asked nothing from anyone. I was not seeking a debate with this article, I just wanted to call attention to people's lives--people who do do things the right way and fall victim regardless, especially children and unborn babies... who have not had the time to abuse their bodies and live unhealthy lifestyles. I am truly sorry if I offended anyone with this article and if the readers see it as some sort of leftist propaganda and everyone wants it removed, I understand. Take care and God Bless.