Abstract:
At
the
conclusion
of
the
novel
The
Healing
of
America,
T.R.
Reid
challenges
the
American
people
to
decide
whether
health
care
is
a
human
right
prior
to
any
appropriate
service
reform
occurring.
From
Reid’s
perspective,
the
design
of
any
nation’s
health
service
system
is
primarily
dictated
by
the
morals
of
society.
In
a
response
to
Reid’s
challenge,
this
analysis
looks
at
the
historical
development
of
the
human
rights
construct
and
how
rights
language
is
associated
with
health
and
health
care
access.
Specifically,
this
investigation
looks
at
the
nature
of
negative
versus
positive
rights,
and
the
distinction
between
human
rights
and
political-legal
rights.
In
an
effort
to
look
beyond
the
health
service
system
of
the
US,
this
analysis
also
investigates
how
the
German
Health
Service
is
shaped.
In
comparing
the
two
nations,
the
goal
of
this
study
was
to
see
whether
rights
language,
particularly
the
language
of
human
rights,
factors
into
how
both
nations
systems
are
structured.
Using
secondary
research
of
academic
and
philosophical
literature,
this
study
brought
together
a
wide
array
of
data
to
investigate
the
abstract
concepts
of
rights
language
and
health.
Based
on
the
research
conducted,
there
are
great
difficulties
in
establishing
grounds
for
health
care
access
as
a
human
right.
As
it
pertains
to
rights
language,
it
is
more
efficient
to
stipulate
health
care
access
as
a
political-legal
right
based
on
the
societal
value
of
compassionate
beneficence.
This
creates
a
decent
minimum
of
services
individuals
have
a
right
to
access
due
to
the
charity
of
society.
Looking
at
Germany
and
US,
the
German
Health
Service
is
a
national
health
service
based
on
health
care
access
being
a
political-legal
right,
were
the
system
seeks
to
provide
a
decent
minimum
of
service
to
promote
health
to
a
larger
degree
the
“patchwork”
system
of
the
US.
