In a (Nov. 13) letter, Lois Eisenberg wrote that “health care is a right, not a privilege,” and praised federal programs like the Affordable Care Act as if they created a right to health care. I disagree. Our Constitution does not guarantee a right to medical care. It protects us from government intrusion in areas like speech, religion and due process; it does not require the federal government to provide every important good or service. Likewise, Sen. John McCain’s “thumbs-down” vote on repealing the ACA may have been seen by some as heroic, but others can disagree with the ACA in good faith without being accused of lacking compassion.
As a Catholic, I do believe I am my brother’s keeper. I take seriously the moral duty to care about my neighbor’s suffering and to help those who are sick or poor. But a personal and community moral obligation is not the same thing as a federal entitlement. We can live out that duty through families, churches, charities, local communities, employers, the private sector and, yes, state-level programs without turning Washington, D.C., into the provider of first resort.
There is also a hard financial reality. Our federal government is more than $30 trillion in debt. That isn’t just some line on a government website. It means that more and more of every tax dollar goes just to paying interest on old borrowing, instead of to current needs like defense, veterans’ care, infrastructure, and targeted help for the truly needy. The deeper we go into debt, the less room there is to respond to future crises, and the heavier the burden we place on our children and grandchildren. Calling for the federal government to “guarantee” health care on top of everything else ignores that reality.
None of this means we should abandon people who can’t afford care or that the health care system doesn’t need reform. It does mean we should be honest about what the Constitution actually says and about what our already overextended federal government can realistically promise. Health care is important, and helping our neighbors is a moral obligation, but that does not make it a constitutional right or a federal responsibility.
Arthur Tom
Valencia
