Is Healthcare/Living Wage a Right?

(Source: Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia)

When people say "X is a right", what do they actually mean by that? In the U.S., Bernie Sanders has been saying that healthcare is a right, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex has been saying a living wage is a right. The conservatives just say they aren't. So are they?

There are two types of rights: moral rights and legal rights. A moral right refers to a right that is based on moral reasoning or religious belief. A legal right refers to a right that is guaranteed by the law. "I have the right to know if my husband is having an affair," this is a moral right argument, but not a legal right one. And a legal right is not necessarily a moral right. Slavery was a legal right in many jurisdictions over the world, but most of us today would agree that it was immoral. A right comes from a duty. In the case of public policies, usually the duty is imposed on the government.

When you call something a "human right", then it is a right that is entitled to every human being, not just a a right of a particular group (e.g. citizens of one country). It can also be moral or legal. When we are talking about human rights based on the law, scholars and politicians usually invoke international law (e.g. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). On the domestic level, fundamental citizens' rights are usually guaranteed by the constitution or a separate bill of rights.

Healthcare, living wage, a job, higher education, etc., are not legal rights in the U.S, at least on the federal level. Neither the Constitution nor any law guaranteed any of those things. It does not mean that they cannot become legal rights, but they are just not right now.

In some of the countries, citizens can say that the government has the legal duty to ensure they have access to health care, because many countries have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 11 says the governments to the covenant "recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health", and the government is obligated to the "prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases". The U.S. is not a party to this treaty.

You can, of course, argue that it is a moral right. Then it requires more discussion with moral reasoning, because it is more abstract and less objective, unlike a legal right which you can just point to a provision of a law.

In my opinion, a politician (especially a lawmaker) saying "we have to MAKE healthcare/living wage a (legal) right" would be much more meaningful than saying they ARE a right. It could be seen as misleading, as it confuses the public to have the perception that the right to healthcare (which can only be argued based on morality now) is no different from the right to vote, for example (which is solidly based on the law).

We should agree that no one should casually drop a simplistic statement like "X is a (human) right" without referring to a law or a sophisticated argument. You cannot arbitrarily impose a duty on someone/the society/the government as you wish.

This is the type of information that is barely mentioned in mainstream debates. I hope this helps set the stage for more reasonable discussion.　

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