Two people, one on a path to becoming a registered nurse at a hospital with a shortage of doctors, and the other an engineer designing a one of a kind innovation that could help millions of people globally. They both get a disease that could be life-threatening without proper care. One of them receives free treatment at a public hospital; the other must choose between medicine or facing financial precarity. Which of them should be given free healthcare? Should birthplace or circumstance be the factors that decide who lives or experiences better health? Healthcare is not just policy, it reflects how societies value human life. Free healthcare should never be seen as charity. It is fairness: fairness across generations, across borders, and especially in the crises that reveal gaps in our humanity.
As wars, disasters, and pandemics affect our world today, healthcare is required more than ever. Healthcare is a set of services that help improve physical, mental, and social well-being of those who need it. It is not just medical treatment, but a basic human right. Crises disproportionately harm innocent civilians daily who did not choose those circumstances. In any war – Ukraine, Syria, Sudan – civilians suffer the most. In times of war, jobs, resources, and systems can collapse, leaving civilians vulnerable. Healthcare in crises should not ever depend on nationality, wealth, or politics. It is the most basic form of protection for humanity. Accessible healthcare should forever be considered a human right, and never a luxury. Currently, humanitarian groups such as Doctors Without Borders, and Red Cross already operate following this principle in over 70 countries, but they are not a permanent solution as they are designed to provide immediate relief rather than long-term systemic change (“About Doctors Without Borders: Our Mission & Work”; International Committee of the Red Cross).
After WWII, the United Kingdom established the National Health Service (NHS), which is a publicly funded healthcare system for all citizens which still runs today. This was because war clearly revealed that healthcare should not depend on wealth. To prevent urgent health crises, people deserve healthcare as a guaranteed right. It is only what is ethical.
When healthcare is not universal, inequality worsens, and poor and marginalized groups who already suffer, often suffer more. Even in rich countries that could afford free healthcare such as the United States, lack of access forces families into debt, slow treatment, and eventually shortens thousands of lives. According to an article released by the World Health Organization (WHO), millions of more people die not from rare, incurable diseases, but from preventable ones because they lack access (“The Top 10 Causes of Death,” 2024). All across the globe, healthcare is the bridge between survival and opportunity. Currently, almost 100 million people are living in extreme poverty due to medical bills. This extreme poverty limits them to $1.90 or less to survive on per day (World Bank and WHO: Half the World Lacks Access to Essential Health Services, 100 Million Still Pushed Into Extreme Poverty Because of Health Expenses, 2017). Universal healthcare does not just heal individuals; it gives people the chance to live life to their fullest. On the other hand, not everyone deserves the exact same version of this healthcare. With the resources healthcare provides, people will be able to receive the help they need, both physically and mentally. Not only could it help heal them, but may be able to even push them forwards onto a better track in the future.
When healthcare is unequal, it is not just the poor who are affected. Society loses its morality. When considering the idea of offering free healthcare, people often consider the amount of money spent as an obstacle. However, healthcare is more than economics; it is a test of what values our society holds. Everyone claims to value human life, but that value is hollow if access to healthcare depends on personal income. Universal healthcare allows each and every person to receive access to free healthcare. A society without universal healthcare is like a lifeboat that only saves those who can afford it, leaving others to drown. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognized healthcare as a human right, so why should we not? There are so many countries (Canada, Japan, most of Europe, UK) that have already implemented universal systems, proving just how possible and sustainable it is. Healthcare defines the soul of a society, it reveals whether we treat people as the important citizens they are, or just as customers. Although universal healthcare may seem expensive or inefficient to some, it is proven that countries with universal healthcare spend less per person than the US and achieve much better outcomes (“How Does Quality of Care in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries?”, International Comparison of Health Systems, 2024). The cost of human suffering, preventable deaths, and economic loss, are all much higher.
Universal healthcare should not be considered as a yes-or-no mandate, but thought of as a life saving resource that reveals how a society helps or abandons their people in time of need. Life is unpredictable. There are illnesses, accidents, and disasters to be faced. These events occur to all, regardless of personal wealth, age, or nationality. A fair and proper society should ensure that no one faces these challenges alone. Fairness is not defined as who can pay to survive, but by who gets the chance to recover and rebuild. Free healthcare is the bare minimum to guarantee that everyone receives that chance, no matter the circumstance.
Works Cited
“About Doctors Without Borders | Our Mission & Work.” Doctors Without Borders, https://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/about-msf/. Accessed 6 September 2025.
“Explore our global reach | International Committee of the Red Cross.” ICRC, https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work. Accessed 6 September 2025.
“How Does Quality of Care in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries? - International Comparison of Health Systems.” KFF, 28 May 2024, https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-how-do-health-insurance-systems-and-coverage-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries. Accessed 6 September 2025.
“Responsibility in Universal Healthcare | Voices in Bioethics.” Columbia Library Journals, 18 January 2023, https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/bioethics/article/view/10608. Accessed 7 September 2025.
“The top 10 causes of death.” World Health Organization (WHO), 7 August 2024, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death. Accessed 31 August 2025.
“World Bank and WHO: Half the world lacks access to essential health services, 100 million still pushed into extreme poverty because of health expenses.” World Health Organization (WHO), 13 December 2017, https://www.who.int/news/item/13-12-2017-world-bank-and-who-half-the-world-lacks-access-to-essential-health-services-100-million-still-pushed-into-extreme-poverty-because-of-health-expenses. Accessed 31 August 2025.