. . . if all goes according to the polls next week.

Cardiologist DrRich argues this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it will open up discussion on how we should limit health care to provide this “right.”

Here’s the dissonance that the public will have to face, as DrRich so eloquently states:

To reiterate the fundamental problem: 1) In America we believe that it is wrong to limit healthcare in any way, that everyone is entitled to the very best healthcare, that any bit of healthcare that offers even a small potential of benefit should be provided, and that death itself is merely a manifestation of insufficient research (or actionable incompetence, or systematic discrimination against the unwealthy, or corporate greed). 2) But against that closely held belief, we must balance the unremitting law of economics which tells us that there is simply not enough money in the known universe to buy all the healthcare that might potentially offer some small amount of benefit to every person. Healthcare spending has to be limited, or it will become a fiscal black hole.*

Opening the dialogue on how care will be rationed is welcomed, as this will be a necessary issue to tackle in the coming years. Declaring health care a right may be the impetus to start discussing these difficult decisions.