ABSTRACT
What is the "franchise" with regard to health care? Webster's (1989) defines franchise as "... a privilege of a public nature conferred on an individual or body of individuals by a governmental grant" (p. 563). Surely, everyone in this fine country of ours has access to health care. We have established safety nets for those who either temporarily, due to circumstance, or permanently, due to inherent moral weakness, find themselves without quality health insurance. They might not get "Cadillac care" from some of the fittest private institutions (unless, of course, they are lucky enough to have an interesting and rare disease). But, they do have access to public sector health care and will receive their care and medications free.
