The United States is the only western democracy that does not recognize a right to healthcare to its citizens, unlike their neighbor Canada which has universal healthcare coverage. Yet according to a New York Times article, an �ABC News-Washington Post poll found that, by a margin to almost 2 to 1, Americans prefer a government system covering everyone instead of the employer-based system� (Akst). The executive editor for Common Cause Magazine (a citizen�s action group), Vicki Kemper and staff writer for the National Review, Viveca Novak note in their essay that �opinion pools indicate that 90% of Americans believe the nation�s health care system needs �fundamental change� or �complete rebuilding��(Kemper and Novak, p.31).
In the US, healthcare is a privilege as opposed to being a right. �A right is an entitlement a person possesses to some good, service or liberty� (Chapman, p.4). Editor Audrey Chapman explains in her book, Health Care Reform: A Human Rights Approach, that instead of being viewed as a social or public good, healthcare is treated as a private good or commodity. Most western countries look at healthcare as a public good which should be paid for collectively, and available to all citizens who need it regardless if they can pay for it or not. No one in these countries goes bankrupt because of medical bills. When health care is viewed as a private good however, paying for it is the responsibility of the individual. The individual is therefore not only perceived as a patient needing treatment but as a consumer from whom profit can be made, thus turning doctors and other health professionals into businessmen.