9. Health Care as a Right ꟷ The Fundamental American Misperception
- dskellis
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
ABC-STEEEP
Affordable Basic Compassionate
Safe Timely Efficient Effective Equitable
Patient-Centered Care
Letters to the File
T Michael White MD FACP
******
9. Health Care as a Right ꟷ The Fundamental American Misperception
“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness.
You have to catch it yourself.”
Benjamin Franklin
The WhiteHouse on the Belleair Bluff
Monday, October 21, 2025
Hello Dr. Mike
A letter to the file...
Average Americans ꟷ generously stretching the boundaries in your favor ꟷ including you, envision (in a foggy way) ready access to necessary health care should the need arise. But what exactly does that look like? What is the deal? What may one reasonably expect? Just what is the contract between the individual in need and our country’s health care (non) system?
For many citizens, again including you, their perception for access to care harkens back to the Declaration of Independence ꟷ “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Clearly, guaranteed life and happiness, when ill, we will, as an unalienable right, be cared for ꟷ wrong. So wrong. This is our fundamental misperception. The pursuit of the rights mentioned (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness) is aspirational and entirely up to individual initiative. There have never been and will never be government guarantees.
Speaking for yourself, when you entered medical school, you perceived that our fine country had an implicit understanding (a contract if you will) with its fine citizens that health care was a right; and, in concert with that understanding, you, as a physician, would have the privilege and responsibility to strive, in some small way, to do important, meaningful work that would make a difference for those in need. Embarrassingly, your perception was in error.
If not forgivable, your misperception is understandable. You had the good fortune to grow up in what David Brooks describes as a well-ordered, secure social container in which you, the individual, were supported and nurtured by aligned family, extended family, school, church, city, state and country. In this secure container, you perceived you had the aforementioned unalienable rights, and you found confirming heroes in your life as examples ꟷ the athlete, the coach, the doctor, the musician, the nurse, the parent and grandparent, the pharmacist, the priest, the professor, the nun, the teacher, the writer. Growing from kid to adolescent to young adult, you intrinsically understood that, in turn, it would become your social duty to strive to position yourself to, like them, do meaningful, important work that may make a difference ꟷ as Rabindranath Tagore would counsel: “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
As reality unfolded (truly, “things are in the saddle and ride mankind”) and formed you, you came to the privilege and responsibility of striving to do meaningful, important work that may make a difference as an internal medicine physician. For decades, you did your imperfect best.
Understandably, the current status of our fine country’s health care leaves you uncomfortably perplexed.
With this exposure of society’s and your own personal misperception, the hot mess that represents the United States’ health care (non) system, begins to make alarming sense. All are free to pursue health but there is no communal obligation to assist. If we ever were (and you still think it was once the case and you remain nostalgic for those days), we are no longer our brothers’ keeper. There is no contract providing access to care. As you, alone and on your own, aspire to a good life, you are advised Carpe Diem and Caveat Emptor and insincerely wished good luck with that. (570 words) s)
Respectfully submitted with fondest personal regards,
Dr. Mike
You may leave an anonymous comment without username and email ꟷ please do. Please share your wisdom, insights and perceptions (your reality) about what I have right, wrong and/or omitted. I will be delighted to hear from you as this draft and subsequent chapters will be significantly enhanced.
Dr. Mike
Letters to the File
Introduction to ABC-STEEEP ꟷ Letters to the File
About Dr. Mike
My Perfect Health Care ꟷ An Uncomfortable Paradox
From the Watershed into Universal Access to ABCSTEEEP
Privilege = Responsibility ꟷ Sounding Our National Health Care Alarm
Quality United States Health Care Defined ꟷ ABCSTEEEP
United States Health Care ꟷ Sounding a Three-Alarm Fire
Health Care ꟷ Recruiting Devine Intervention
Health Care as a Right ꟷ The Fundamental American Misperception
(more to follow)
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