A Right to a Healthy Life “Socialized Medicine”. The term makes the American population shudder. For some, this brings great joy. They see a world in which they can see a doctor and get the medications they need at little or no cost. Others, however, see a world of rationed care and long waits for procedures. “Socialism” is the inconvenient term. It remains deeply ingrained in the American psyche, evoking images of the Russian Revolution and George Orwell's Animal Farm. In Animal Farm, the animals face a very oppressive leader, who represents the cruelty of the Stalinist regime. Some wonder where they might fit in Orwell's hierarchy of animals. In today's health care system, "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others." (Orwell) America is built on the assumption that “all men are created equal,” but there is a burning debate about what that equal access to health care should look like. Access to health care is a fundamental human right that provides economic benefits and contributes to a fairer and more just society. Access to health care provides financial stability by reassuring people that they will not be financially destroyed by injury or illness. Additionally, when people can afford regular medical care, they tend to avoid chronic problems and financial stress. In a study by the American Medical Students Association, researchers examined the costs and benefits of universal health care. They concluded, after reviewing other articles and statistics from multiple sources, that "the annual cost of poorer health and shorter lifespan for Americans without insurance is 65 to 130 billion dollars.” (Chua 5) This comes from the fact that people do not have access to adequate health care and then lose their jobs because they... in the middle of a paper... tell us that it is not There was no incentive to control costs. Medical costs have increased and insurance has increased with them. This has left a growing number of people without access to health care. “44 million Americans are uninsured, and eight out of ten of them are workers or dependents” (Glied). This is fundamentally unfair to a huge number of people, many of whom are children or elderly people. The facts support the conclusion that the way health care is distributed in this country is flawed. It costs us money, productivity, and unfairly leaves too many people fighting for what Thomas Jefferson understood to be fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America is in a unique position: it does not have any form of universal health care. This should make Americans wonder why the health of their citizens is “less equal” than that of a European..