-Hello everyone, thank you for coming to our session today. Although some people may believe that basic Healthcare is a natural human right, it is not enforceable right until it has been created as one and written into law. To make it enforceable requires more than a simple declaration. Rational theory of justice must underpin the claim to such a right. If this theory exists, and if we can pass the legislation, then we can establish an enforceable right. Considerable changes have brought us closer to these established rights, such as the emergency medical treatment and Active Labor Act in 1986 and the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Our speakers today are Doctor Jonathan Miller and Doctor Juan Garcia. Let’s begin with Doctor Miller.

-Thank you, there is a consensus in our society that we are ethically required to provide a minimum of basic health care to all people. Even though the specifics of these rights are often points of contention, we could all see that this is true even prior to the Affordable Care Act. For example, for many years, the emergency medical treatment and active Labor Act of 1986 have required us to treat people in the emergency room regardless of their ability to pay. In other words, we recognize that it is unethical to leave people to die or fail to provide emergency care when they need it. We also know that providing little or no preventative care to a large portion of the population is more costly in the long run than making such care available, so we have good financial reasons to provide that care to people. Even if we didn’t have an ethical obligation to do so.

GARCIA

-It may be more costly in the long run, but it’s important to determine to whom it is costly. The cost shift drastically if you’re proposing a single payer system, and that burden rests directly on the taxpayer. If the government is footing the bill. Furthermore, we may want to look more closely at our definition of health care. For instance, we have drastically dropped morbidity rates through better sanitation practices and widespread inoculations. If people live longer and are less likely to become sick, as is certainly the case, aren’t we already providing a basic minimum of health care, particularly in combination with the aforementioned? Act that requires hospitals to take in all patients in need.

– It looks like we have a follow up question on that statement from the audience. Would Universal Healthcare really improve Americans health?

-Universal Healthcare could actually lower the quality and availability of disease screening and treatment. In countries with universal healthcare, some treatment outcomes are worse than in the United States. The five year survival rate for all cancers in America is 64.6%, compared to 51.6% in Europe. The taxpayer is already footing the bill. When patients use emergency rooms in place of doctor visits, they are more likely to have serious and expensive problems that could have been prevented or cured at a lower cost. If the patients had seen doctors sooner. Those using emergency room services will also pay exorbitant prices for their care, many times more than they would expect to pay for an office visit. And if they can’t pay, then the hospital eats the bill, passes it on to other patients in the form of increased costs for medicine and services.

-But those are still costs that are passed on to patients, not the general population, or specifically taxpayers. In any case, does our concept of social justice extend rationally to the point that we feel we must provide such health care? What if a patient is using crack? Who eats the bill for the many health problems of the addicts ravaged body? And at what point do we Stop trying to provide the same care to everyone? If our health costs have become a drag on other industries?

-Doctor Miller? What do you say to people who argue that we can’t afford to provide health care to every American?

-Many European countries with universal healthcare, such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have a lower our gross domestic product. GDP per capita turn. the United States, yet they are able to provide health care for all their citizens. United States spent $8508.00 per person on healthcare in 2011. At that level of spending, we should be able to provide health care to everyone. Thank you. Now it’s your turn to participate in this discussion. Consider the following responses and choose the one you believe to be the most ethical.