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No.This is a reductive argument that libertarians resort to when their fantasies about free markets butt up against the reality that no market is ever truly free.The crux of the argument is that enshrining a right to healthcare means that at some point, doctors must be forced to work for patients who can’t pay.As a counterargument to universal healthcare, this is specious - a red herring. It replaces the original proposition - universal healthcare - with a similar one, that “healthcare is a right”. Universal healthcare is simply one way of functionally ensuring healthcare as a right for all, without actually enshrining a right to healthcare.The argument also makes the simplistic conflation that being forced to work without pay in one single instance is equal to slavery. Slavery is a long-term, if not permanent, status of bondage (restricted movement and personal freedoms), largely without pay, though there exists a varied history of occasional, conditional pay (even some African-American chattel slaves were paid enough to eventually purchase their freedom; stretching back through the millennia the institution of slavery often saw similar episodes).Oddly, in countries that do enshrine the right to healthcare, there is no mass epidemic of doctors forced into such slavery, nor of citizens conscripted into slave labor to make up for shortfalls among those who voluntarily take up the occupation.If anything “amounts to slavery” in the arrangement of government-paid universal healthcare, it’s the tax state. And that argument exists entirely separately of the healthcare debate. Libertarians have, in the past, argued that all taxation represents a form of forced labor: the fruits of one’s labor are stolen by the collective.This only holds if one holds individual property rights to be absolutely inviolable. This holding is clearly fallacious: you can have a peaceful social contract undergirded by threat of force, or one with absolute individual property rights, but not both. Absolute individual property rights mean that no taxation can occur, and thus individuals must defend those property rights through individual force. This is incompatible with a social contract being peaceful. A peaceful social contract undergirded by threat of force, on the other hand, requires taxation, and thus is incompatible with absolute individual property rights.So no, enshrining a right to healthcare does not dictate slavery for doctors. As a practical matter, it’s never happened. And hypothetically, in the event that demand for healthcare outstrips supply, slavery could not possibly stretch that supply any further than any other economic scheme for delivering healthcare. The argument that a right to healthcare dictates slavery willfully misinterprets the right to healthcare as an individual interaction between a patient and doctor, wholly absent any other considerations of macroeconomic arrangements such as tax-financed-single-payer. Furthermore, current US law already requires doctors to treat patients regardless of ability to pay, and this has not resulted in a state of slavery for doctors. The doctors advocated and voted for that law themselves, and by and large do not complain about it, because they are reimbursed by their institutions (many of whom are then reimbursed by the government) for care for such patients. And finally, to the extent that slavery has anything to do with any of this stuff, the idea that any form of taxation constitutes slavery is so thoroughly invalidated that even a middle-schooler could debunk it.

As a born and bred Indian doctor currently living in USA, I can understand your opinions about US healthcare.So let me try to share my experience and analysis about the points you have raised in the question.1. They treat patient as a "Subject".Actually, doctors all over the world consider patients as subjects when they are analysing the history and physical examination of their patients. That's how they reach to a relevant diagnosis and decide on the management goals. But when they treat the patient, they always take the patient's expectations and comfort into consideration. In fact, almost every American physician I have had the privilege to rotate with, has been very considerate towards his patients' feelings and very much involved in the patient outcome and quality of life.The key issue here is what the patient feels during the interaction with the doctor. As User-11726029917195839384 correctly states, "American culture values a certain kind of directness which can appear abrasive to non-Americans. Thus, it can appear abrupt to non-Americans who expect more indirect and convivial communication styles."2. They do not care about patient's emotions.I would have to respectfully disagree. They do care. Most of them. The cultural gap between India and US might be one of the reasons it is not being conveyed properly.3. They would be more interested in Patient's insurance provider and asking you to fill the forms ( Insurance and Social Security Details ).These are mandatory details that every US healthcare practice has to get access to. Without this information, it would not be possible to provide proper treatment and/or who to contact in case of emergency. Also, as far as I have observed, these details are taken care of by nurses and other staff, not doctors themselves. But yeah, if an expensive treatment option is being planned (which might not be covered by the health insurance), then the doctor usually asks these details to ascertain the feasibility.Lets consider this scenario- A patient has obstructive sleep apnea (breathing issues in sleep). This is not too bothersome for the patient, but it can have some complications in future. The doctor would prefer the patient to go on CPAP machine to help him breathe during sleep. But its a treatment option not usually covered by the regular insurance companies (unless the patient has some other co-morbidities). So, unless patient is able to pay out of pocket, there is no way that treatment can be started. It is necessary for the doctor to have that information to decide on the treatment plan.4. Why capitalist society encouraging one profession to mint money ??? ( Please correct me if i am wrong )I would like to put certain things in perspective to explain the huge healthcare costs in US.The cost of any service in US (and most developed countries) is usually decided by the quality of service, the inherent cost of providing the service, the amount of hours put in by the service providers, the level of skills of the providers, and the balance between demand and supply.To go into the entire details of the healthcare economics would require an entire answer altogether.5. Physian assistants are often Rude.Unfortunately, I have had very scant contact with physician assistants; so cannot give an answer in this respect. However, many physicians I have spoken with, do not hold them in high regard. Individual experiences may vary based on the location of the hospital, the amount of shortage of physicians in the area, the type of healthcare facility (community hospital vs university hospital), the personality traits of the individual physician assistants, etc.Also, as Charles Bollmann put it correctly, if you are not satisfied with your doctor, you can just go to another one!

Kerala has a huge tradition in Ayurveda. Its reputed all over the world for its intense Ayurveda traditions. However its not the original home of Ayurveda, as much of the original Ayurvedic traditions originated in Gangetic plains, Himalayan valleys and Narmada banks.However today when someone says Ayurveda, the image of Kerala is evoked only because Ayurveda continues to be a mainstream source of medical treatment in Kerala. In majority part of India, Ayurveda could mean either larger companies like Dabur or much recent Patanjali etc who are focused on cosmetic/health supplements sector OR miscellaneous individuals or babas or some Yoga/ashram institutions etc who have Ayurvedic products mostly related to wellness. Ofcourse there are lot of scrupulous elements among the latter due to the factor of lack of verifiability of their qualifications and expertise.Its common to see Pharmacies (featured in left) that sell ALLOPATHIC medicines highlighting itself as ENGLISH MEDICINE STORE to differentiate it from Ayurvedic pharmacies (featured in right).However things are bit different in Kerala. In the state, if someone looks at a Pharmacy, an unusual terminology is found in the nameboard- ENGLISH MEDICINES (Allopathic medicines). This is primarily because Pharmacy for Malayalees in general could be Ayurvedic Pharmacies as well as Homeopathy Pharmacy too unlike rest of India where the word denotes only Allopathic medicines. That alone shows the extend of popularity of Ayurveda as a mainstream treatment for almost all kinds of illness and health related matters within the state rather as a pure wellness products. There are large scale professional Ayurvedic hospitals, poly clinics apart from some of the much reputed ayurvedic medical brands and qualified practitioners across the state.The most common heard theory why its popular, is that, its because of tourism as well as presence of many rare herbs that grow wildly in Kerala’s lush forests. While the latter is true, former is not so. Because ayurveda isn’t simply all about a massage or rejuvenation treatments, which is just a secondary activity.HistoryAs per mythological belief, Ayurveda was introduced by Parasurama when he created Kerala. Historically its heavily associated with arrival of Buddhist traditions. Prior to Buddhism, local natives had extensive natural treatments and healing culture (a form of Ayurveda as such). But Buddhists helped to integrate the traditional knowledge as well as their extensive knowledge into a codified form which was heavily patronized locally. By 5th century, along with rise of Brahminical power, many ancient Vedic literature on ayurveda also strongly crept into the land, the most noteworthy being the Ashtanga Hridayam written by Vagbhata in Sindh area who was believed to come down to Kerala and settle down near Pattambi. The Ashtanga Hridayam effectively summarized almost all the knowledge put forward by Charaka and to some extend- Suśruta. Ashtanga hridaya soon effectively became the Holy Bible for Kerala Ayurveda and the brahmin community who were seen as flag carriers of vedic civilization as part of their assimilation into local culture effectively absorbed all Buddhist traditions in Ayurveda, thus generating the best of best methods available.As Ashtanga Hridaya focused more on Charaka Samhita (Charaka Methodology) which focused on preventive medicine and less of surgical methods as Susruta proposed, much of Kerala Ayurveda traditions is focused on former method with minimal surgical treatments. Buddhist traditions consider Salyachikilsa (Surgery or open cut treatment) as an act of Himsa (violence) and against the basic principles of Buddhism. Hence due to absorption of this value into Kerala Ayurveda traditions, there is little surgical methods and much more is focused on through consumption of medicines or oil applications aimed for eliminating or suppression of root cause of a disease or illness.The Astanga Hridaya also brought a new tradition of Asta Vaidya cult in Kerala, were 8 families became supreme authority of Ayurveda in Kerala. There was a degree of specialization associated with a family, thus each family became masters in their respective 8 branches of Ayurveda (Ashtanga)The 8 branches of Ayurveda as popular in Kerala areKaya chikitsa (treats the body)Baala chikitsa (pediatrics)Griha chikitsa (psychiatry)Urdhvanga chikitsa or shalakya tantra (eye, ear, nose and parts above neck)Salya tantra (surgery)Damsthra chikitsa (toxicology)Jara chikitsa or rasayana chikitsa (rejuvenation therapy)Vrishya chikitsa or vajeekarana chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy)Out of this, Salyachikilsa or Surgery is very limited option in Kerala school of Ayurveda mostly limiting to Orthopedic treatments and few Parasurgicial procedures.Why Ayurveda is massively popular?Trust factorOne key factor why this is stream is popular is purely because of trust and acceptance of the treatment by natives. From a very young age, Malayalees are trained to accept that Ayurveda is a science of wellness and healthy living. Its equally a medical treatment that focus on prevention than curation as such.Dhanwanthari Statue in front of State Ayurveda College- Trivandrum. Worship of Dhanwanthari is common for almost all ayurvedic institutions including Non Hindu institutions, due to massive association of this tradition with religious values.One key reason of this awareness and trust is primarily because it has a divine significance. Ayurveda as such carriers a degree of divinity as most of Malayalees associate Ayurveda with Dhanwanthari- the god of Medicines. Its started off as a medicial treatment linked with temples, thus a degree of divinity has been imbibed into it. In olden days, the medicial treatment was heavily associated with divine factors and thus there used to be a blind trust as such. The practitioners in those days, who gained the knowledge also retained the basic divine cover over the medical treatments, thus helping to generate a huge trust factor.This trust and goodwill was successfully converted into proper brands in 20th century and thus these brands enjoy a huge trust. Every Malayalee holds an unquestionable trust and faith in medicines of much acclaimed Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Shala or Ollur Thaikadu Vaidyaratnam Moss etc, which is primarily an inherited trust factor, which originally started with a belief in divinity.Asta vaidya traditionsOne key reason why Ayurveda lost its status in many other parts of county was lack of an organized form of practice. It was learnt by many individuals and rarely transmitted or passed on next generations with a proper inheritance process. As a result, it ended up with so many individual Babas, Sansyasis etc rather a proper family or institution.One key reason why it achieved a legacy in Kerala, was the process of institutionalizing the knowledge and transmitted professionally through rigid schooling methods for each generations.Originally there were 18 Families who were clubbed together under 8 branches of Asta Vaidya traditions, which slowly dwindled to 8 in number (through migration, merging of families, extinction of families etc). 8 families- Aalathiyoor Nambi, Elayidath Thaikkatt Mooss, Thrissur Thaikkattu Mooss (Pazhanellippurath Thaikkatt Mooss), Kuttancherry Mooss, Vayaskara Mooss, Chirattamon Mooss, Velluttu Mooss and Pulamanthol Mooss holds much of the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda.Between the 13th and the 17th centuries, with generous royal and individual patronage, a fertile intellectual milieu developed around temples in Kerala, especially in the Nila valley region in Malabar, where scholarship and scientific research on medicine, mathematics and astronomy made significant progress. The Ashtavaidya culture evolved in this environment, blending the Ayurveda of Ashtangahrdayam with the knowledge and practices of local healers.Each Ashtavaidya family developed its own therapeutic specialties and its specific methods of transmission. Although many of the specialties were guarded as family secrets, students outside the family were accepted as disciples. This helped disseminate their knowledge beyond the family circle and create new lineages of transmission. The Ashtavaidyas have enriched Ayurvedic literature through their Sanskrit commentaries on the Ashtangahrdayam such as Hrdayabodhika and Vakyapradipika, and compendiums in Malayalam such as Alattur Manipravalam, Cikitsamanjari, Sahasrayogam and Sindhuramanjari.These texts and commentaries constantly enriched the Ayurvedic traditions of Kerala.For more details of Kerala school of Ayurveda and its concept- one can check the detailed interview with Indudhara Menon of National Centre for Biological Science who extensively researched on this topic.Indudharan Menon - Ayurveda and folk healing of Kerala - YouTubeMixture of Tantric cult with Ayurveda.Kerala form of worship- Tantra associated with temples has lot of ancient vedic customs and practices widely used on day to day basis. The vedic rituals, particularly large yajnas and homas like Somayaga require a presence of Vaidya to make the ritual complete. This is because in a yajna, Adityas are believed to proprietors of the sacrifice and Aswini Kumaras (the divine physicians) are regarded to be twin Adityas who stand on two sides of the Yajnakuda. Thus Ayurveda forms a very integral part of tantric form of worship and temples heavily fund and promote vaidya traditions to ensure the continuation of their rituals.The illustrious Vaidyamadom family, one of the Astavaidyans of Kerala and the only Nampoothiri vaidyas, reputed for participating in 101 Somayagas of Kerala as well as an authority in Kerala school of AyurvedaThis means Nampoothiri vaidyas or Shala Vaidya have both medical and vedic authority in the society. Vaidyamadom is one such celebrated family and ayurvedic institution who have a huge command and respect in the society.When these families become an ayurvedic brand, it automatically increases the repute and trust factor, which has a degree of religiosity into it.Spread of multiple Ayurvedic communitiesThough much of Kerala’s Ayurveda gains its moral authority because of its Astavaidya traditions, Kerala ayurveda school is much larger in nature.Itty Achudan Vaidyar, celebrated Ezhava physician and researcher who helped Dutch governor Hendrik van Rheede to compose world famous research work- Hortus Malabaricus that highlights the rare flora of Malabar and its medical propertiesThere are 1000s of other communities who are specialized in Ayurveda. Ezhavas community, despite of being regarded as low caste community, are always celebrated as masters of Ayurveda tradition. This is because they retained the original Buddhist traditions of Ayurveda without mixing with Vedic concepts. Ezhava community came to Kerala from Sri Lanka and thus share many original Lankan Buddhist concepts (Lanka have these concepts originally from Gangetic plains as Buddhism brought these knowledge from there, which later got extinct in Gangetic plains). So indirectly Kerala also benefited this knowledge in a big way.Ezhava physicians, being a lower caste community, extended this knowledge to much of the commoners community and among lower castes of the society without any caste bias unlike Nampoothiri physicians who maintained caste laws. This lead to widespread awareness and popularity even with most lowest class which otherwise may be deprived of the tradition. Eminent Ezhava physicians like Kayikkara Govindan Vaidyar successfully translated the highly complex Ashtanga Hridyam which is a Sanskrit work into Malayalam, thus transmitting the knowledge to commoners even today.In addition, several traditions of Nattuvaidyam (Naturalopathy traditions) as practiced by tribal communities also got popular within many other lower caste communities in Kerala and many of these were absorbed into Kerala school of Ayurveda in general.Institutionalization of Ayurveda familiesTraditionally Ayurveda was heavily family institutions, where sons/nephews were expected to learn, specialize and carry forward the family traditions as well as inherit the secrets. However to a limited extend, gurukulam system was also promoted to push the knowledge with others who were expected to be assistants and supporters of the family and their treatment facility. Though family as such were an institution untill 19th century, there was a much larger threat looming over them,The entry of western medicines post 16th century into India and its widespread popularity since 18th century have started making many traditional Ayurvedic families insecure.Western medicines focused on curative treatments, which were more instantaneous in nature. Its was heavily suppressing in nature, so as there is essentially a major pain relief compared to Ayurveda which manifests the pain (as being the preventive treatment, the focus was to pull out the root of the pain rather treating symptoms). As western treatment was getting popular, there was an urgency to change Ayurveda in accordance to the time. Its no more possible with limited number of physicians to treat the mass, unlike Western treatments which can do so.The 10 Ayurvedic Leaders who worked for modernizing ancient system of Ayurveda into much professional modern medical stream in Kerala. All these 10 leaders effectively became stalwarts of Kerala Ayurveda and the institutions they established as have achieved worldwide fame as professional Ayurvedic Medical institutionsSo in 1902 under the patronage of Cochin King H.H Rama Varma XV (popularly known as Rajarishi, being a saintly scholar himself) and titular Maharaja of Kozhikode- Zamorin Manavikrama Ettan Raja who was an ayurvedic physician, decided to convey a Pan Kerala conference to discuss and suggest methods to popularize Ayurveda. All leading ayurvedic physicians, the celebrated Astavaidyans and others participated in the conference held at Shornour. A Society or Samajam called Keraleeya Ayurveda Samajam was established to coordinate methods to popularize Ayurveda was decided. Samajam was the world’s first Ayurvedic Medical society and center which helped in codifying the ayurvedic knowledge in a professional way.The world famous institution of excellence in Ayurveda- Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, is one of the pioneers in professionalizing ancient traditions into modern medical stream. For his contributions in medical field, The Viceroy of British India confered the highest title for medical practitioners in India- Vaidyaratnam in 1933In meantime, one among them- PS Warrier already started a small scale dispensary called Arya Vaidya Sala in his place- Kottakkal to popularize the concept of Ayurveda among poor as well as middle class. He opened free hospital and subsidized medicines which soon led to its popularity. He himself learnt English and understood the complexities of Western treatment and started taking best of English medical concepts into Ayurveda.This includes mass production of medicines at physician’s permises (something unheard untill then in Ayurveda) which actually lowered the cost of production per capita basis as well as helping patients with providing pre-prepared and packed medicines.This was the first revolutionary change, as untill then patients have to collect the plants and prepare the medicine as per formulations prescribed by physicians where the key reasons for switching to much easier English Medicines.The Samajam acted like an Academy or society (much akin to Royal College of Physicians in UK), where all physicians commonly report various diseases and illness they observed as well as suggested medicines/formulations. This sort of uncodified medical treatments soon achieved a near universal standardized practice with common medical protocols coming up among physicians. A common medical magazine were published to inform the common protocols and observations as well as suggested procedures.Traditional Ayurvedic families who successfully institutionalized them into major medical brands and currently ranks as some of the country’s best known Indian Ayurvedic brandsThe success of Kottakkal Ayur Vaidya Sala’s pre-packed medicine tradition, immediately made other ayurvedic families to start similar system, thus an array of brands started coming up. At the same time, in back-end, lot of mutual coordinated deliberations and medical conferences held, to ensure formulations were near uniform and helped to achieve desired outcome.Later in 1913, Samajam itself became a hospital brand and all its constituent members individually decided to be become its own private medical brands.By 1920, AVS adopted a new concept- AGENCY SALES after being inspired from American model of franchiese system. By agency sales, agents opened pharmacies of the brand in various part of the states and medicines being sold in such pharmacies.This eliminated the need of small local physicians to privately produce medicines at their clinics or recommend the formulations to patients to prepare at home. However once agency sales increased, there was a rapid consumption of all common medicines. People started buying various oils for smaller ailments at pharmacies which traditionally they have to prepare at home. This lead many Ayurvedic families to convert their home made mass production into proper automated industrial scale of production. This was first big step of large scale ayurvedic production of medicines which almost resembled to same style of English Medicines.Fully packed medicines and tablets started appearing and people were indeed comfortable in buying Ayurvedic medicines much like Allopathic medicines. This slowly converted family into institutions. Almost all the families today have companies and corporate institutions specialized in Ayurvedic medicial treatment.Institutionalization helped people to have a strong trust factor that can be verified (as it follows GMP pratices) as well as ensures a strong medicial protocols much like western medicine system.Codified procedures and standardized treatmentsIn 1889, Travancore Kingdom opened first Ayurvedic Medical college, which was a long cherished dream of H.H Vishakam Thirunal Maharaja who was a qualified botanist and an ayurvedic scholar, realized during the reign of his successor- Sree Moolam Thirunal. The aim of Vishakam Thirunal to impart the Ayurvedic knowledge to all class of society without any bias of traditions or customs, out of the traditional gurukula system.This concept got a much appreciation from Kerala Ayurveda fratenity as it was first step of codifying the procedures and making a standard. Once Kerala Ayurveda Samajam started, they too intitated its own medical college. So as most of the Ayurveda families soon started proper medical college where they could teach the science and concepts without traditional bias.This lead to proper standardization of all protocol procedures under a government level itself. By 1940s, Ayurveda medical college hospitals were common and much serious in-patient treatments happened in these hospitals like any western institution apart from standardized professional level training and doctor certification.The start of educational institutions helped students to be trained professionally and this also helped them to have an equal status as that of doctors. Today the state has more than 30 large scale ayurveda medical colleges in both Government and private sector following standardized medical learning and churning out more than 1000+ professional ayurvedic doctors annually apart from several para medical staff.Large scale Ayurvedic hospitals and doctors are today much common in any part of Kerala. Almost a majority of Ayurvedic physicians in Kerala are professionally trained doctors who are also familiar with western medicines/allopathic concepts (even if not trained as so). Presence of professional trained doctors as well as listing majority of Ayurveda medicines under Drug Control laws that ensures quality has helped them to achieve almost an equal status as that of Allopathic medicines.Saying so, Kerala’s highly positive healthcare indices were reflective of massive level of adoption of Ayurveda into commoner’s life which hasn’t happened extensively in other parts of India. Perhaps a Malayalee may prefer to use a Kottamchukkadi or Kapooradi Oils for muscular or joint pains more than a Moov or Deep heat balms . So as one may apply Nalpamardi Thailam as such for blemish free faces rather than soaps or face washes of MNCs highlighting themself as Herbal.Kerala’s ayurveda focus much as a medical system, rather a wellness system. Its also a mainstream medical system unlike alternative medicine as seen elsewhere. Due to this, Ayurveda is often seen for various treatments including cancer as well as various tumors etc. There are even proper Ayurvedic hospitals specialized in areas like Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurology etc.However, such institutions are rarely known to outsiders, as Ayurveda for many still means rejuvenating massages or oil treatments for fairness enhancement procedures etc. The popularity of Kerala as a tourism spot, often lead mistaking Ayurveda as a tourism product, rather a serious mainstream medicine.