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Thus far, the U.S. government has not acted on the popular belief that health care should be a right of all people.
ABSTRACT: U.S. health policy has been consumed by an ideological divide between conservative and liberal viewpoints. The liberal philosophy, based on both moral principles and utilitarian arguments, attempts to balance the needs of the individual with the concerns of the entire population. Elements of the liberal health care perspective include a belief that health care is an equal right of all people, the implementation of that right through a social insurance system that provides universal health coverage, equitable financing of health care, and a commitment to equality in health care.
RED OR BLUE. Republican or Democrat. Conservative or liberal. The media delights in separating the United States into two sharply divided camps. To a considerable extent, these irreconcilable divisions exist, although numerous bridges span the red-blue chasm. In the realm of health policy, a similar division is evident, with a wide gap splitting liberal from conservative opinion. This intellectual and policy gap is important because it affects legislation (or the lack of it) that would affect health care for the entire population.
This paper explores the liberal perspective, at times contrasting it with the conservative viewpoint; it is an explanation, not a defense, of liberalism in health care. Because my interpretation encompasses only one of many strands in the liberal tradition, not all liberals will agree with the presentation. After all, internal disagreement is what liberalism is all about.
Currents In Liberal And Conservative Thought
* Liberalism. Classical seventeenth-century liberalism, a response to autocratic monarchies, promoted the freedom of the individual. The concepts of equality and the rule of law were added to classical liberal doctrine in the eighteenth century, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.1 Eighteenth-century liberalism also advocated a universal humanitarian morality. "It is the goal of morality to substitute peaceful behavior for violence, good faith for fraud and overreaching, considerateness for malice, cooperation for the dog-eat-dog attitude."2 These precepts, also in the writings of world religions, are best expressed in the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."3
In the nineteenth century, the excesses of unbridled capitalism...