Many people following the election probably think that Obama said that healthcare is a "right for every American." That's how Democracy Now headlined their report about the healthcare exchange following Obama's second debate with McCain.
But that's not actually what Obama said. He said healthcare "should be a right for every American." This is virtually meaningless. Life should be fair, politicians should be honest, I shouldbe able to play the piano and you perhaps should be doing your laundry.
(The introduction of the word "right" was from the moderator Tom Brokaw, the original questioner Lindsey Trella asked: "Do you believe health care should be treated as a commodity?" Neither Obama, McCain or Brokaw used the term "commodity" in their discussion which followedTrella's question.)
Of course healthcare as a right is provided for from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 25 states:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
The day the Declaration passed the UN General Assembly, Eleanor Roosevelt said
In giving our approval to the Declaration today it is of primary importance that we keep clearly in mind the basic character of the document. It is not a treaty; it is not an international agreement. It is not and does not purport to be a statement of law or of legal obligation. It is a Declaration of basic principles of human rights and freedoms, to be stamped with the approval of the General Assembly by formal vote of its members, and to serve as a common standard of achievement for all peoples of all nations.
So healthcare "should" be a "right", but there's no legal instrument to make it a reality. It is not an obligation of government as far as Roosevelt or Obama are concerned. It's easy to idealize Rossevelt or Obama -- but they didn't make the change happen -- movements did. And they need to first carefully parse the words of the politicians.
[originally published at husseini.org on Oct. 30, 2008]