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Should healthcare be free?
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Free healthcare is a human right

Good health is a basic essential for human survival. It is a basic human right and should, therefore, be free to all.
Healthcare

Context

The right to good health is a basic human right. Human rights should be afforded to the public for free. It would be absurd to charge someone for the air they breathe, so why should we charge for healthcare?

The Argument

Without good health, we cannot survive. We all have the right to enjoy good health. Therefore, free healthcare should be a basic right granted to all. The right to free healthcare was laid out clearly in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the World Health Assembly Resolution. It is a basic necessity for survival on this earth. Therefore, the government has the obligation to provide healthcare free at the point of use.

Counter arguments

Just because we need something to survive doesn’t mean it should be free. We don’t charge for air, but we do charge for water and food. These are necessary for basic survival. They are not luxuries. But they cost money to produce, therefore, someone has to pay. That someone should be the person that benefits from it; the consumer.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Basic human rights encompass everything necessary for human survival and it's essential that they are accessible to every citizen. [P2] We need good health for survival. [P3] Good health care is too expensive for a large proportion of the population to afford on their own. [P4] Therefore, it is a basic human right and should be free.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Not everything necessary to human existence is provided for free.

References

This page was last edited on Wednesday, 4 Nov 2020 at 17:29 UTC

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