While many speak of healthcare as an individual “right,” I prefer to think of universal coverage as something that we, as a civilized nation, desire for all members of our society because we recognize each other as equally human, vulnerable, and in need of care.

As a society, we have a moral obligation to provide access to medical care for all of our citizens. When we frame healthcare as a “right,” we shift responsibility from society to the individual. It is up to him to demand his due. At that point, the word “entitlement” comes to mind, along with the conservative image (so artfully drawn by President Reagan), of an aggrieved, resentful mob of freeloaders dunning the rest of us for having the simple good luck of being relatively healthy and relatively wealthy…