The provision of healthcare services for the world population is a challenging task. It is complicated by insufficient coverage of people, whereas this circumstance is a clear violation of their rights. As follows from the World Health Organization’s principal conclusions, the observance of access to medical facilities should be a legal obligation of all governments (“Human rights and health,” 2017). Therefore, health care should be considered as a birthright and approached accordingly to correspond to the international regulations.
The present-day situation in this field presents a threat to the concept of fundamental human rights by making them a privilege. According to the researchers, the projects intended to increase the number of people that have an opportunity to receive medical help happened to be inefficient (McGill & MacNaughton, 2016). This outcome contradicts the objectives of such initiatives as the Affordable Care Act, which recognizes the importance of health care as the key to overall wellbeing protected by the Constitution (Bouquet, 2019). The scholars claim that this bill also does not address the problem adequately while emphasizing its legal ground (McGill & MacNaughton, 2016). Hence, this provision’s support as citizens’ primary need is defined by its inclusion in law but not implemented in practice.
The necessity to view health care as a factor contributing to welfare adds to all human rights’ interdependency. The lack of thereof indicates the inability to function properly since, in this case, citizens are deprived of opportunities regarding education, work, caring for their families, and participating in communities (Kaufman, 2018). Moreover, the non-inclusion of health care in the list of basic rights means the impossibility for people to live “a life of dignity” (Gerisch, 2018, para. 1). Therefore, it should be observed by all countries in the world.
To summarize, the opportunity to receive health care services is one of the most critical conditions of human wellbeing. This allows concluding on the need to view it as a birthright supported by the government’s actions, legal acts, and considerations of its relation to other provisions. Thus, the failure to observe equal access to health care for all people would mean countries’ inability to ensure their prosperity in all aspects.
References
Bouquet, O. (2019). Is there a right to healthcare? Health Care Current Reviews, 7(240). Web.
Gerisch, M. (2018). Health care as a human right. Human Rights Magazine, 43(3). Web.
Human rights and health. (2017). World Health Organization. Web.
Kaufman, J. (2018). Health care is a right, not a privilege. The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Web.
McGill, M., & MacNaughton, G. (2016). The struggle to achieve the human right to health care in the United States. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 25, 625-684. Web.