Introduction
During the last century, the problem of ensuring universal respect for fundamental human rights outgrew its state level. It became the concern of the entire world community as an integral part of the international legal order system. The modern period of world development is characterized by the fact that fundamental human rights determine all areas of cooperation between states.
Moreover, recent crisis events showed that population health is deeply interlinked with all national institutions, including social, economic, and political spheres, and defines their effectiveness. Therefore, the right to healthcare is one of the fundamental human rights. It should have the same legal status as those that ensure the life of individuals and their freedom of conscience in the United States (US) and other countries that still do not recognize it as such.
A Premise
For a long time, social rights, which include the right to healthcare, did not have legal recognition at the international and national levels. It was due to the fact that they had a derivative character to all other issues. For the first time, the obligation of states to cooperate in developing the healthcare system was recorded in the fundamental documents of the United Nations (UN). This organization has enormously contributed to forming and developing the right to healthcare and has adopted several universal international legal acts.
It would be appropriate to mention the creation in 1946 of the World Health Organization (WHO), which was the source of consolidation of the concept of understanding the phenomenon of the right to healthcare. However, while the US recognizes these major global human rights organizations and acts as its members, its policymakers still do not recognize the right to health care as an inherent human right.
An Arguable Assertion
The US suffers because they do not perceive the right to health care. Throughout history, the country has mostly invested in treating illnesses, often excessively, and did not pay enough attention to preventive measures and public health education. Despite the consistent efforts to battle diseases and disorders and massive budgets, health outcomes worsened yearly (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021).
Reforming the healthcare system is a current top priority for the country. Making health care an inherent human right might be a good start. The population’s health is the most crucial factor in the state’s social, cultural, and economic development, directly affecting all spheres of society. The growth and prosperity of the people directly depend on the state of public health and the efficiency of the healthcare system. That is why healthcare is considered a universal human right in Europe. They understand it is a crucial aspect of people’s lives.
Argumentation
Healthcare and social protection are universal systems that affect the interests of the majority of citizens and their well-being. Holden et al. (2021) emphasize that “the current evolution of healthcare is accompanied by new challenges to deliver safe, high-quality, and low-cost healthcare services” (p. 499). The necessity of the right to healthcare can be explained from legal, social, economic, and humanistic positions.
From the legal viewpoint, healthcare must be protected by the Constitution and federal laws, as these recognize the accepted norms of international law. With its legitimization, the health of the American workforce, family, motherhood, childhood, people with disabilities, and older adults would improve vastly. From the humanistic perspective, the government’s recognition and protection of the right to healthcare would mean that the state sees its citizens as the country’s highest value.
Universal healthcare is one of the significant spheres of society’s life in countries that accept it. It allows the implementation of comprehensive and multi-level economic, educational, preventive, managerial, and organizational measures to realize citizens’ right to maintain health. The population’s state of health reflects society’s socioeconomic well-being; health is the most critical value.
The population’s good health is also a major prerequisite for sustainable economic growth. Given the variety of factors influencing the formation of public health and its importance as an essential resource, it should be considered that health is an indicator of quality of life. It can be used as an objective criterion for assessing the success of ongoing political, social, and economic reforms. Therefore, adopting the right to health care would be a pragmatically beneficial decision for the American state.
Within the framework of health economics, the legal state of population health intersects with social reproduction and socioeconomic progress factors. Major technical, economic, and production shifts and structural and institutional changes prove it. For example, Lilleker and Stoeckle (2021) emphasize how the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally disrupted the natural processes in society, the economy, and healthcare, solidifying its position as a public health crisis.
Using the example of the UK government’s subpar pandemic management strategies, the authors provide a broad perspective on the crisis nature of the pandemic, outlining its influence on broad spheres of state functioning (Lilleker & Stoeckle, 2021). The right to healthcare would ensure the successful management of any emergency, disaster, or crisis by providing better coordination between public organizations and allowing them to assist the population on time. Its legitimization would also improve the mitigation of national health risks by bettering communication between local authorities and the people. Accessible and timely care to every citizen and swift and cost-efficient crisis resolution is possible only when the right to healthcare is institutionalized.
Conclusion
In many developed and emerging countries, healthcare is a universal, fundamental human right recognized on social, legal, and state levels. It is also perceived as such by two of the most respected and high-status global organizations, the UN and WHO. The provision of medical care is vital in the current global climate for maintaining society’s health and ensuring national security. However, the US authorities still have not legitimized this ethical principle necessary for any community’s safe and efficient functioning.
The topic of protecting and improving human health has a mutual linkage with health economics, which in turn is considered part of the country’s economy. Moreover, this category of society’s state of health is also associated with national socioeconomic conditions and factors of the system of productive forces. As the most crucial component of the socioeconomic goals of society, human health is a social value of the highest order.
This paper appeals to policymakers and citizens of those countries without universal health care, especially the US, to start advocating for adopting this international, ethical, and institutional norm. It is also a call to action for ordinary people against discrimination in the healthcare setting caused by system structures and their paradoxes. Citizens of all countries should remember that another critical social role is to be observers of the state’s observance of the right to health care.
References
Holden, R. J., Boustani, M. A., & Azar, J. (2021). Agile innovation to transform healthcare: Innovating in complex adaptive systems is an everyday process, not a light bulb event. BMJ Innovations, 7(2), 499–505. Web.
Lilleker, D. G., & Stoeckle, T. (2021). The challenges of providing certainty in the face of wicked problems: Analysing the UK government’s handling of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(4). Web.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The Future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Web.