Health is the foundation of American freedom

Boston Globe

6 hours ago

To pursue life, liberty, and happiness — not just politically but through our everyday lives — you need health.
If you are unwell, if you're struggling with chronic illness, pain, depression, or the crushing burden of medical debt, your capacity to live freely, to pursue your dreams, becomes more constrained. While health is not listed in the Declaration of Independence as an inalienable right, it is a key enabler of those rights. When people are able to keep themselves, and those they love, healthy, they have the agency to live the lives they choose.
The biotechnology revolution of the past decade is expanding that freedom. We are living through a remarkable era of health breakthroughs, from
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CRISPR is being used to treat once-untreatable genetic disorders and recently helped save the life of a
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These gains in health are expanding freedom — and our ability to meaningfully pursue our unalienable rights. That health-driven freedom is exactly what is at risk today as the federal government reconsiders its investments in
These breakthroughs — and the thousands of things that happen every day in the American health care system — have no value if people can't access them. A strong health care system makes routine what is extraordinary. Heart bypass surgeries, cataract surgeries, cesarean sections, joint replacements — procedures that were once rare or risky are now commonplace and performed safely every day. Screenings catch diseases early, when they're the most treatable. This kind of health care gives people the ability to shape their lives on their own terms. A hip replacement means that an older man can take walks again with his grandchildren. A heart bypass surgery means a middle-aged woman knows she will live to see her children married or her grandkids born and growing. It means returning to work, raising a family, being there for loved ones, growing older with dignity. That's how life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness become real and not just the promise of our Founding Fathers.
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And these aren't just ideas. There is strong empirical evidence that this is so. When people have access to quality health care,
It's also why we as Americans should understand health as a foundational element of freedom. Because when Americans are healthy, they are more able to live, to choose, to flourish. They are more able to exercise the freedoms our founders envisioned.
On Independence Day, politicians will speak of freedom. True freedom, however, requires not just platitudes but actual policies that improve health through innovation, access, and reduced costs. Funding science research and ensuring universal access to health care are critical to realizing the Declaration's promise of life, liberty, and happiness.
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