I beg to differ with Laura Schifflett’s recent statement on this Letters page that “(i)t is NOT a right for anyone to receive health care . . . .” The most basic right of all is the right to life (check the Declaration of Independence) and health care is an immediate corollary of that right: no health, no life. That right is so basic that everyone has to respect it. If someone can’t get health care, then the rest of us have to gather round.

Sorry, Laura, but “charities, churches, private donations, etc.” can’t provide for the tens of millions of people in America who can’t get basic affordable health care. And the private insurance industry can’t or won’t do it. So we all have to gather round and use the tool that is right at hand: Government.

Denis Woods

Shepherdstown