Health Care and Education

In the debate over universal health care it seems to me that a number of things have not been included in the debate. I have seen articles and blogs that talk about whether health care is a right, some saying it is while others compare it to housing or other purchases that may in some cases be subsidized but are not rights. As I have written some months ago in this blog, health care is not a right but it is something that we all care about and would like to make available to as many people as possible. Because it is a service and not property, it seems to me that in many ways it is like education.



Education is also not a right, though most of us would agree that it is a good thing and critical to having citizens informed enough to exercise the right to vote as well as to effectively participate in the economy. It is an important thing, but not a right. Life, liberty, property, justice in the courts, voting: these are all rights. Having housing, clothing, food, and education are not rights, they are responsibilities for us to provide for ourselves, but they are important and in some cases we provide a safety net for those unable or only partially able to provide them for themselves.



In the case of education, public education is made available everywhere, though the local citizens have a say at the polls about how much is spent (by voting on tax levies and bond issues), have a say in how it is run by electing school boards, and put a cap on how much is provided 'free' to everyone by limiting free public education through high school only, not college. And many people want something better or different from the public schools, so private schools and home schools also are available. Beyond high school, all additional schooling is at the student's expense. The basic issue here is that everyone sees the value in basic education and are willing to pay for it--to a point.



It seems to me that many of these approaches should apply to public health care as well if it is to be done at all. It should be run locally; the local citizens should be able to control costs and management by voting on the funding and boards; it should cover basic health care, but not health care beyond a certain point; there should be options for private health care in addition to the public health care. These principles would make certain options, like a single payer system run by the government, off limits.



Public education was not intended to provide all the education needs of the country, just the basics, and that with accountability to voters on the results and the cost. It seems to me that health care should have the same kinds of accountability and limited scope.