Is healthcare a right?

That's the question the editor of Modern Healthcare poses in this editorial.

It's a key point as the GOP Congress, which takes office today, has vowed to undo the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, as Act 1.

The editorial does a good job of tracking the modern history of government actions regarding the health of its citizens, starting with FDR's 1945 State of the Union speech, in which he outlined a "bill of rights for Americans" in the post World War II nation.

There followed Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-'60s (healthcare is a right for the poor and elderly), EMTALA in 1986 (emergency care and childbirth at hospitals that receive federal funds are rights) and CHIP in 1997 (healthcare coverage is a right for children).

Can you find these rights in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights? Not exactly. (There is that pesky and well-crafted line in the Declaration of Independence about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" but that's fairly nebulous, and not a governing document).

Is healthcare a privilege? A business? A duty of the government on behalf of its populace, or a benefit for those who can afford it? The fundamental question, really, is: What sort of nation does America aspire to be? 

With healthcare spending at $3.2 trillion in 2015, and set to account for 20 cents of every dollar of GDP, it's just plain silly to argue that it's not a major undertaking of our government. So, does government care whether its citizens are sick or well? Does it have a vested interest in ensuring people stay healthy -- and get better? That research and wellness programs make America's quality of life enviable? I sure hope so.

In any advanced society, healthcare is a right. If America aspires to greatness (or, as many seem to seek, greatness again), we need to realize that.