Here is a good question that arose during the Supreme Court presentations on Obamacare. Is healthcare a right? You know, like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Like the rights spelled out in our Bill of Rights.

More to the point: Should it be free? After all, some folks cannot afford healthcare. If they cannot afford it, it ought to be free to them, right? Public education is. Because we figure that education is a right. So, should healthcare – bottom line – be free?

Suppose a person has no money. But she has the right to healthcare. Does that include a heart transplant? At humungous cost? If not, why not? I can think of any number of procedures and treatments that will cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep her alive. Is she entitled to them? How about a new hip at age 60? At 70? At 80? Is there a cutoff, when a “right” no longer exists?

This week students broke into a meeting of administrators at a California college. They demanded free college education. No fees. No tuition. Higher education is their right, they told the world. There are many who agree. College should be as free as public high school, they say.