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When US politicians speak of the need for healthcare reform and universal coverage, they often do so using the language of human rights. Health care is identified as a right and its provision must therefore be guaranteed by the government. Although politically popular, the belief that health care is a right is not uncontested. Opponents of government-mandated universal coverage may argue that health care is not actually a right and so any effort to guarantee its provision by governmental means is misguided. In this paper, I will examine a libertarian or individualist argument that (1) limits the domain of 'rights' to only three-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and (2) rejects the status of health care as a right. I conclude, following Henry Shue's reasoning, that the argument is flawed and then refute some counterarguments that the individualist or libertarian might apply. Next, I will discuss how life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness relate to Norman Daniels' 'equality of opportunity' argument for healthcare rights. Finally, I will present cases from the USA. and other countries where the arguments I have discussed have been used in practice.
A restricted notion of rights
Opponents of government involvement in ensuring universal healthcare coverage often argue that the notion of rights must be limited to 'negative' rights. Negative rights, unlike 'positive' rights, do not impose an obligation on others to provide you with something. 1 A good enumeration of those negative rights, according to Leonard Peikoff and others, can be found in the US Declaration of Independence-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights share a common feature in that they guarantee the right of individuals to engage in certain activities without interference from others. 1-3 For example, imagine that having a nice garden makes me happy. It is my right to own a plot of land, choose the flowers I want, and arrange them as I please. Anybody who steals, digs up, or tramples my plants violates my right to pursue happiness. However, the right to pursue happiness does not mean that others must actively support me in my gardening activities by providing me with gardening supplies. In other words, the pursuit of happiness is not a positive right in which other people are obliged...