ABSTRACT
The “human right to healthcare” has had an astonishing rise. Its history, as it is typically told, begins with the end of the Second World War. In 1946, it received one of its earliest articulations in the constitution of the newly formed World Health Organization: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health,” its oft-quoted preamble boldly proclaims, “is one of the fundamental rights of every human being …” 1 Two years later, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which somewhat less grandly included a right to “medical care” among the socioeconomic goods now considered the natural birthright of all humankind. In the decades since, in some form or another, the right to health (and to healthcare) has found a place in a wide range of international treaties and national constitutions. 2 It has served as a compelling rallying cry for activists struggling for healthcare justice around the world, and in recent days as a more formulaic talking point for politicians seeking health system reform.
