From Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:
When people claim health care is a “right,” they usually mean a “right” to health care whether you can pay for it or not, in which case others must be forced to provide it. You obviously have a right to health care that you buy from willing providers, or access in other ways based on voluntary consent, such as voluntary charity. It is in this second sense that the Sixth Amendment recognizes the accused’s’ right to be represented by counsel. It clearly does not recognize any right to compel others to provide that counsel.
It’s true that today taxpayers and/or lawyers are forced to provide counsel to people who cannot afford it. It’s arguable whether this should be so. But providing counsel to an accused is not analogous to providing goods or services like health care at others’ expense. Given that criminal prosecution is a legitimate governmental function that proceeds from the proper purpose of government, which is to secure the inalienable individual rights of its citizens, it’s hard to see how the government can fulfill its obligation to provide a fair trial to a defendant who is not represented by counsel.
What good are rights if you are dead or too sick to exercise them? As usual, LaFerrara puts property rights above everything else. All legal and moral analysis is simple when you have only one value.
Right.
It’s in the Government’s best interests to have you alive and being a productive member of society and tax payer.
It’s interesting how he picked that Quora question to answer and failed to actually answer it.