Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending the current US healthcare system, it’s horrible and riddled with perverse incentives, and should be mostly (if not entirely) nationalized. I’m just not sure how to justify the idea that healthcare is a “right”.
I know that sometimes people on the left draw a comparison to the right to a public defender. I’m not sure that argument really holds up though, because you only have the right to a public defender under the specific circumstance of being prosecuted by the government for a crime. The logic there is “if the government is going to significantly interfere with your life by arresting you and trying you for a crime, then it at least has to allow you to get legal defense from a qualified attorney, even if you need the government to pay for it.” There’s not, like, a right to a publicly paid lawyer for any and all purposes.
Word. You want to charge 80$ for a bag of saline, make your interns work 30 hour shifts for no reason, and bankrupt people over routine surgeries? Fuck you. No doctor's license. Get the fuck out of here.
"Oh but then none of the doctors will continue to work as doctors after the revolution they'll all go on strike!" Fuck em. They're easy enough to replace and most of them will join our side when we cancel their debts and let them work sane hours without having to tell patients they're going to die because some actuary denied them a basic lifesaving intervention.