Should Access to Healthcare be a Basic Right?

Should there be a right to food, shelter, clothing, medical care and basic needs for everyone? One of the biggest current issues in the USA regards exactly the access to health care. Many people consider health care to be a privilege but by definition basic needs are needs which are critical for survival and normal mental and physical health of people, and this is why I think that it must be recognized as a right and provided as a public good for every American; everyone should be able to access the health care they need, no matter what their income is, but a lot of citizens do not have a health insurance and most of the times the cause is that people cannot afford it.

This lead to another big issue: poverty. The percentage of poor Americans has increased over the last decades; there are currently more than 37 million Americans living in poverty. During Great Depression in 1930s President Franklin D.

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Roosevelt instituted a variety of social programs, known as New Deal, to help low-income citizens. By the end of the 20th century, however, concerns that the government had become too intrusive in the lives of Americans led to a scaling back of federal programs, especially those intended to assist the poor. A deep recession followed and with the rising of unemployment the number of impoverished Americans increased.

President Obama promoted a large role for the government in battling the recession and providing a social safety net for the poor. In fact without any help from the government, poor people are likely to stay in poverty.

Since the Great Depression, the United States has developed a set of supports to help low-income families, seniors, children obtain health care but the United States still has a higher poverty rate than many other advanced countries. Unemployment is a major cause of poverty because the unemployed has no income.

A policy to address poverty is improving safety net and work support and increasing funding for social services would help millions of struggling Americans out of poverty by providing for their basic needs. Programs like SNAP (food stamps), the EITC, and Medicaid support millions of low-income working families and help promote work. Thirty years ago, Medicaid and SNAP largely served families that received public assistance and were not working.

Moreover another policy we should promote to help people is increasing minimum wages. In conclusion we should all have the right to basic needs and access to health care whatever our income is and federal government should increase social services for people who live in poverty, since the percentage of poor people in US is still very high.

Works Cited

1. Sherman, Arloc, et al. Various Supports for Low-Income Families Reduce Poverty and Have Long-Term Positive Effects On Families and Children. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 11 Oct. 2017,
2. Does the U.S. Need Another War on Poverty? The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Jan. 2014,
3. Issues & Controversies. Issues And Controversies,