Older Adults Right to Health Care

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama on March 29, 2010. As quickly as President Obama signed the bill into law, opponents began mounting arguments and lawsuits stating that the Act was unconstitutional based on the grounds that the United States Constitution protects citizens from being required to purchase any goods and services. Regardless of the accomplishment of the passing of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010), the act did not address the issue of the Right to Health Care by all persons, including older adults. Along with universal health care, the right to health care has been long debated in the United States. Davidoff and Reinecke (1999) proposed in an editorial in The Annals of Internal Medicine that a 28th amendment should be added to the constitution that states “All citizens and other residents of the United States shall have equal access to basic and essential health care”. Years later, the United States has not agreed upon the universal right to health that many other countries and world health agencies such as The International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organizations (IFHHRO) have adopted (Asher, 2004). As recently as 2007 the British House of Commons adopted The Human Rights of Older Adults in Healthcare. The Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act was introduced as S.2077 in 2012 by Senator Blumenthal. The Right to Health by all persons, including older adults, has not gained majority support in the United States.