Is Medical Care a Right?

Medical care, in all its manifestations is a good in economic terms and it is not a free good. Someone has to go to school for a long time, work, invest, take chances to create medical care. So, if we are not going to physically enslave all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians and steal all the capitol equipment used for health care, someone has to pay for it.

Shall the user of the medical service pay for it or shall the government use its guns to make someone else pay for it? That is the stark reality of the situation. Which is the moral and ethical choice?

Calling it a right violates the very concept of rights. Most rights recognized by our founders and the constitution were negative rights-the right not to be interfered with. No one can interfere with your right to speech, religion, your decision to carry a gun and such. In each of these cases, no one has to supply you with anything. They just have to leave you alone.

But a right to medical care or food or a home is a positive right. It implies that someone owes you something that is not a free good. This is nothing less than armed robbery.