I don’t believe that health care is a right.

That has been debated many times here before, but in reading the ACP’s Bob Doherty, he brings up another reason I hadn’t thought of.

“Once something is defined as a right,” says Mr. Doherty, “it paints people who disagree as wanting to deny those same rights. This places people who have legitimate concern about the role of government in health care in the same category as, say, past generations who opposed a woman’s right to vote or stood in the schoolhouse door.”

The fact that almost 50 million Americans are without health insurance is a national tragedy, and indeed, we need to find a reasonable way for everybody to obtain affordable health coverage. But I don’t believe people should be entitled to health care.

Some have suggested that we have a moral obligation to provide health care, but not a right. As Mr. Doherty writes, words do matter, and that small difference makes a world of difference.