Letter: Health care is an absolute right

Health care is an absolute right

On Dec. 18, a federal appeals court ruled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's requirement for people to have health insurance is unconstitutional. Given that this requirement is considered the law's keystone, the ruling could eventually lead to striking down this entire health care law. I am expressing my concern about the arising threat of such a decision on the future of health care in the United States as an absolute right.

Regardless of whether the health insurance mandate itself is constitutional, it is important to understand the underlying rationale behind it in order to realize the consequences, both explicit and implicit, of its absence. Fundamentally, by requiring almost everyone, including healthy individuals, to pay for and have health insurance through the enforcement of this tax penalty, the mandate seeks to protect the right to health care for those of us who get sick - our families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and, most importantly, American community, notwithstanding whether we know them personally or not.

At a time where we are working tirelessly to expand access to health care, striking down this requirement and potentially the whole law without a proposed replacement, is expected to increase the number of people without adequate access even more. Most importantly, this resolution threatens the future of the people's fundamental right to health care - the right ensuring that we will be taken care of when we get sick.

We now need to evoke government officials, whom we inherently elected to protect our rights, to find a serious solution that is sensitive to all Americans. During this important time, with the presidential election being just around the corner and Americans being more divided than ever, it is urgent to spread this message in order to fight for and protect our rights and democracy together

Anis Barmada

Mount Prospect