Last night, Health Care went from being a "privilege" to a "right"

[scheming daemons]

We can argue over whether a Public Option is better, or single-payer, or any other way to go about insuring every citizen.

But the bottom line is this... every single American citizen will have access to health care now.


Every new child born in America will be born into a country where Health Care is considered a basic right, and not just a privilege.


Over time, the method of providing the coverage might morph to a Public Option and then to Single-Payer... but the fundamental change in how the concept of Health Care is considered.... that change happened last night.


Future generations will only argue about "how"... not about "whether".

[kenny blankenship]

1. Obligation = Right

that's a new one to add to the list.

[laughingliberal]

2. +1 nt

[amborin]

3. +1 remember when folks derided Bushies for their nefarious Orwellian 'up' is 'down' b.s.?!

[laughingliberal]

15. I remember well. nt

[obxhead]

16. +1

[leftstreet]

18. +1

[downeyr]

22. THANK YOU!

If I'm not mistaken, a right is something you don't have to pay for. Just saying.

[bvar22]

27. Obligation to BUY Health Insurance...

...can in NO way be considered a RIGHT to Health Care.
The only RIGHT defined in this bill is the RIGHT for Health Insurance Corporations to MANDATED Profits.


I promised myself that I would refrain from raining on the Health Insurance Victory Parade, but honestly, Flights of Fantasy like this OP NEEDS to hear from Planet Earth, or they risk spinning out of orbit into deep space.

[Cleobulus]

4. Uhm, I doubt it, the biggest supporters of the HCR bill that I encountered on this board...

simply put do not believe that health CARE is a right, but, at best a privilege. Its frankly a disgusting attitude. If they are any indication, our attitudes are about to shift even further to the right, making actual reform impossible to achieve.

[Towlie]

5. I've always suspected that all of history's great medical discoveries weren't just for the rich.

[Lorien]

6. Really? How do you figure that it's a "right"?

If I get an aggressive form of cancer I'll get surgery WITHOUT losing my home? Doubtful. The bill doesn't demand that insurance PAY CLAIMS.

[Skittles]

12. the ignorance of some DUers overwhelms me

they act as if some kind of real reform has occurred

[area51]

20. +1

The delusion on this website is so thick I can cut it with a knife. We don't have a right to healthcare in this country due to the new bill. Only if you have unlimited money can you get unlimited care. We are still the same country we were before, with mafiosi, unregulated insurance that helps to kill 100,000 people per year due to lack of healthcare.

[freddie mertz]

35. There is no "right to CARE" enshrined in this bill.

It is a partial MANDATE for INSURANCE PURCHASING.

Not the same thing at all.

[quiet.american]

7. Tremendous shift, indeed. Well said. nt

[msongs]

8. Obama signed the final bill last night? til he does it means nada nt

[rve300]

9. A basic right can not be rationed....

Every health care system in every country rations the care provided. If you consider it a right like free speech you will always be disappointed. Government should protect your rights, not provide them.

[newspeak]

28. I want you to back up your claim

"rations their health care." And, the insurance industry doesn't? The insurance industry exists to provide a service for profits--if you are a liability, you infringe on their profits. This rationing bullcrap--you want to really know about death panels--just look at an insurance panel who will deny your claim on various grounds because it will eat into their profits. Also, we pay into medicare--WE pay-I'd rather get a government program with no middle man and have the government arbitrate drug prices with corps., than have a deregulated greed fest by the corporations. Drug prices have done nothing but go up after * pushed that pharma giveaway bill. Now, my in-laws must pay more to insurance and pharma because of that shitty bill.

[Skittles]

10. WTF

I cannot for the LIFE of me understand how someone in America can even BEGIN to think that healthcare insurance means access to healthcare

[Jakes Progress]

29. Shhh. Facts just bring down the vibe.

It's party time.....for now. Those who are celebrating so loudly now will wake up in the morning with a hangover, sleeping next to a bed partner not nearly as attractive as they thought.

[newtothegame]

11. Private health insurance went from a crappy optional purchase to a crappy required purchase.

Noone received healthcare at all.

[Statistical]

13. Unless you can't afford it then it became an additional tax/fine you can ill afford. n/t

[vixengrl]

14. This will sound unrelated at first--but I'll get "on point"--

Kathie Lee Gifford pissed me off today regarding this bill. (I know!) I had the Kathie Lee and Hoda show on, and she said something to the effect of, when she was growing up, her father taught her that if you can't afford something, don't have it.

What the hell?

Okay--so, if you can't afford cancer, you better not get that. You need to steer clear of heart disease and autoimmune disorders and a bunch of other stuff out there, that you might be genetically predisposed to--and seriously: Don't bother getting old. You just can't afford it.

Make sure your kids hear this even in utero, so they'll know better than to be "difficult" expensive deliveries or give you all kinds of trouble by having some crazy unaffordable pre-existing condition. Poor kids should have basic needs that their parents can handle--none of these "special needs". {/rant}

If people want to be serious about the "right to life" in the "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", they should be on board with people being able to make those choices that can enhance, extend and save their lives. We have in the past socialized the public cost of police forces, firefighters, and a standing militia, in the interest of the general welfare. This is a step in the right direction.

(I'd say only a step--but "the right direction" is the important part.)

Treating it as a privilege really says to a poor kid-- well, you just don't have as much right to have your lymphoma treated as the kid of a rich person with good insurance. It means deciding a person is worthwhile of being treated for their chronic, but non-disabling conditions when they are employed and have insurance--but if they lose their job, they become an insurance non-person and can face disabling consequences.

I really think you've hit on the point--it's whether it's a right or a privilege, and how should the country address it in terms of justice. What I hate the other side for is trying to make "justice" a dirty word, and manufacture ways in which what should be rights are denied.

(To be a bit off point--like what McCain and Lieberman want to do to the right to due process. It is despicable, and they should be drummed out of the people's Senate for it.)

[eridani]

17. Like hell we will. All we have access to is shitty insurance, and we are divided by worthiness

--into Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze levels, with more "coverage" the more money you have. There's even a Dirt classification for those of us who are not old enough for Medicare, but old enough to be charged three times what everybody else has to pay for lousy access to actual care.

[leftstreet]

19. I just lost IQ points reading your OP

This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted on DU

UnRec

[inna]

21. oh jesus. facepalm.

[Orsino]

23. *We* went from being the insurers' customers to *their* basic right.

I mean, I'm glad that more people will be covered, but no, most of us are still not guaranteed coverage.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. But the bottom line is this... every single American citizen will have access to health care now.

I have access to the Maserati dealership. It doesn't mean I can afford one or they will give me one.

As an aside I support the bill but I don't see how it helps me.

[AnOhioan]

25. Your ability to spin is unmatched

[galileoreloaded]

31. Oh, it's matched alright. But only by about 8 others I can think of. And they are GOOD at it. n/t

[thotzRthingz]

26. more correctly stated

claim: Health Care went from being a "privilege" to a "right"

1. mandated health insurance is NOT health care (ask any of the MILLIONS who have health insurance but have their claims DENIED over & over again... then have their RATES RAISED for having filed a CLAIM)

2. mandated health insurance is NOT a "right" nor is it a "privilege"

so, a more correctly stated claim:

Health Care should be a "right" ... too bad it is still a "privilege" for those

(a) who can afford it, and
(b) who can get past the DENIAL of CLAIMS

(on that latter point... show me, in the current legislation/law, where DENIAL OF CLAIMS has been addressed ... see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7993712 )

[galileoreloaded]

30. I suppose in upside down world?!?! n/t

[Jakes Progress]

32. Not a right and not care.

It just became a commodity that is still controlled by corporations. Now those corporations are guaranteed profit by you tax dollars.

Any additional health "care" will be an inadvertent by product and totally unintended.

[freddie mertz]

33. I don't see it. Not at all.

Not everyone is included.

Lots will fall through the cracks.

And a mandate to PURCHASE hardly constitutes a "right."

A right is something you have that can never be taken away.

[Romulox]

34. No it didn't. nt