Healthcare: Commodity or Right?

I thought the best question asked of the candidates in Tuesday’s presidential debate had to do with how each perceived healthcare – as a commodity or a right. I thought their respective answers provided an important glimpse into each man’s potential governing style. I also feel this is a discussion long overdue - part of the reason for the hesitancy on both may have to do with the fact that the question’s implications could have a profound and irreversible impact on the direction of the nation’s healthcare policy.

Not surprisingly, Obama views it as a right; while McCain took a more middle-of-the road response and called it a responsibility. If a right, as Obama believes, and the State has the responsibility to guarantee provide comprehensive healthcare for all of its citizens, does it also follow then that as ultimate nanny and financier, the State has a compelling interest to protect its investment by mandating its citizens maintain healthy lifestyles? Smoking, even in the privacy of the home, is a no-no. Same for those cookies, chips and pretzels fatso – loaded with trans fats, get rid of them too (bad for the children you know). And don’t even think about having a Coke and a Smile – the caffeine alone will kill you, never mind the sugar content. Sound extreme? Perhaps. But it’s already happening in city councils and state legislatures across the country.

But then again, if healthcare is a commodity, to be bought and sold at a profit, then how do insurers wrestle with the conundrum of providing the highest quality healthcare available at the lowest possible cost for its members, while maintaining the highest returns for its shareholders?

Is there room for the profit motive in healthcare? What do you think?