The issue of the classification of healthcare is a controversial one given its nature. Health care incorporates the aspects of high costs. The debate on whether it ought to be classified as a right or a privilege is not easy to resolve. The debate is further complicated by the issue of poverty and how it impacts the health care. It has been established that persons who are socioeconomically disadvantaged tend to have poor health outcomes if to compare with the socioeconomically advantaged (Miller & Spitzner, 2011). Persons that are well off economically can afford health care and would thus seek for a better health care as compared to the poor. For the well off population, health care is something of a privilege, since they can purchase better health care outcomes using money. These people can afford to visit the gyms, eat good food and deal with diseases early enough with the best medical care available to them. On the other hand, health care is a right to the poor since they cannot afford to pay for better health care outcomes and hence, require health care to be provided to them. As such, the classification of health care as either a privilege or a right would depend on the extent or quality of the health care provided, taking into account the costs involved (Naden, 2010).
Health care is also an issue of sustainability of the community given that the health care outcomes greatly impact economic outcomes of the society. In order to have a productive and sustainable community, the populace must be healthy so as to work and be economically productive (Module Five). The present situation in which health insurance companies and medical providers record huge profits while the greater majority lack access is unsustainable. With the ever increasing numbers of people unable to access medical care, the society and the economy will suffer. While proponents of health care as a privilege assert that the poor are to blame for their poor health outcomes, it must be acknowledged that poor health care outcomes have a direct correlation to social security, unemployment and welfare (Naden, 2010). The lack of access to health care by the poor results in their poor health that ultimately impacts their productivity and may lead to losing a job. This results in greater inequity and greater social concern, since unemployment causes societal conflict (Module Five). With greater numbers of people unemployed and on welfare due to poor health, the socioeconomically advantaged have to pay for the upkeeping of the poor resulting in resentment in the society (Miller & Spitzner, 2011). As such, while the debate on whether healthcare is a right or a privilege remains contentious, its knock - on effects affect the entire society without due regard for the socioeconomically advantaged or the poor.