Second Presidential Debate

[lyrelyre]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Personally, I put it in the same category as Education. Education is also a service that utilizes commodities to provide the service. We have a right to equal opportunity to education and it is my personal belief that health care should be treated the same way.

It's worth noting that education is not a fundamental right. It is true that access to existing public education is protected. However, the Supreme Court has specifically stated that there is no fundamental right to education.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by lyrelyre

It's worth noting that education is not a fundamental right. It is true that access to existing public education is protected. However, the Supreme Court has specifically stated that there is no fundamental right to education.

Yeah, and some times it's interesting to me that things have gone this way.

We accept a public educational system that most of us regard as less than awesome for the majority of citizens and assume it's a legitimate governmental service, but most of us really don't want a system of public doctors and hospitals paid for like schools are paid for.

Maybe if companies hadn't started offering health insurance benefits as a way to attract workers when they essentially had salary freezes, we would have simply developed a more extensive system of public clinics and hospitals supported though taxes and more moderate billing. ETA: such a system would probably be about as uneven in quality as the public schools are, but it's interesting to think about how these two areas diverged.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by lyrelyre

It's worth noting that education is not a fundamental right. It is true that access to existing public education is protected. However, the Supreme Court has specifically stated that there is no fundamental right to education.

The Supreme Court has said that there is no fundamental right to education under the federal constitution. However, I believe you'll find that many if not most state constitutions do make education, and a free education at that, a right.