Health Care is Not a Right

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTU3MzNkZmViNDEzOWQyMzU3ZDA4YzRmNjU3MTM0ZDg=

Health care is not a right, at least not according to the conception of rights upon which this country was founded. Your rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You may not be unjustly deprived of these things. Your rights do not include things that I or anyone else must be forced to provide for you, such as a home, a car, a job, or health care.  [...]

For some time now, the debate over how best to allocate scarce resources has been a settled matter. The market, with its system of price signals, is the most efficient way to direct resources to where they are most urgently needed. We need health-care reform that enables the market for health care to function more efficiently. Removing the distortion in the tax code that favors employer-based health insurance would be a good start.

The last thing we need is public policy based around the idea that health care is a "right" to which we are all entitled. We've seen the results when other countries have adopted such policies: shortages, rationed care, higher taxes and a less innovative health-care sector — in short, a state of affairs that infringes on everyone's right to pursue the best care he or she can obtain.