(Today's update appears at the bottom of this essay)
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In the last couple of days I have heard both Elijah Cummings and President Obama at the Democratic Convention say that as part of the next great pragmatic jump forward, Democrats have evolved to the point where they can aver officially and unequivocally that "healthcare is a right" in their 2016 platform.

In both 2008 and 2012 Democrats limited their vision to the concept of "accessible" and "affordable" healthcare - in 2012 it was part of the American "promise" and in 2008 it was a "moral imperative". Calling it a "right" 8 years later can be seen as a semantic improvement at the very least.

In listing the accomplishments of his administration President Obama said, "We declared that health care in America is not a privilege for a few, it is a right for everybody."

Let's have a round of applause for this breakthrough, shall we? Okay, we're decades behind the other so-called "industrialized nations" but better late than never, right?

But wait a moment, I just looked at the actual 2016 Democratic Party Platform and while it's true, they do "declare" as President Obama stated, that healthcare is a right, it appears they don't plan to do anything that will implement it as a right in reality. How can this be?

Here's a good play-by-play from Kevin Gosztola on how Dems say good words in the platform and then undermine it with their actual action plan: Clinton Democrats Claim To Support Health Care As A Right, But Oppose Universal Healthcare In The Platform

Reader's Digest condensed version is that the Sanders people on the platform committee put forward this amendment:

“It is the policy of the Democratic Party that we will put people before profits by fighting for a Medicare For All single-payer health care system to guarantee health care as a right, not as a privilege, to everyone in this country. Working together, we will end the greed of health insurance companies.”

Sanders representatives voted for it and all the Clinton appointees voted against it, primarily on the grounds that they didn't want to undo the Obama/Dems headline achievement of the ACA and undermine his/their legacy. Because that's what really counts, right? So what did the Clintonites propose?

According to DeMoro, the Clinton campaign has put forward a set of incremental reforms that will tinker with a system that sees sick and dying people as a commodity. Clinton proposes: “a tax credit for ‘ excessive out-of-pocket costs”; “limit family costs to 8.5% of income for premiums”; “allow family members on employer plans more easily”; “delivery system reform that rewards value & quality to reduce costs”; and “demand lower drug costs for working families and seniors.”

“None of these changes alleviate the primary concern of Americans that they cannot get the care they need. These market reforms only serve to strengthen the healthcare industry grip on our health rather than save patients’ lives,” DeMoro argued.

Here's another account of the horse-trading on healthcare:
The Weak and Defeatist Democratic Platform on Healthcare

At its Orlando, Florida meeting two days ago, the DNC platform committee voted down a proposed amendment to include single-payer health care in the Party Platform by a vote of 92 to 62, even though public support for single-payer includes 81 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of U.S. residents. As Michael Lighty of National Nurses United said at the time: “If this is controversial in this room, it is the only room of Democrats in which it is controversial.” Hillary Clinton’s whips in the room were urging on the negative votes. (1)

So what actually made it into the platform?

Securing Universal Health Care
Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and our health care system should put people before profits. Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, which has covered 20 million more Americans and ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Democrats will never falter in our generations-long fight to guarantee health care as a fundamental right for every American. As part of that guarantee, Americans should be able to access public coverage through a public option, and those over 55 should be able to opt in to Medicare. Democrats will empower the states, which are the true laboratories of democracy, to use innovation waivers under the ACA to develop unique locally tailored approaches to health coverage. This will include removing barriers to states which seek to experiment with plans to ensure universal health care to every person in their state. By contrast, Donald Trump wants to repeal the ACA, leaving tens of millions of Americans without coverage.

For too many of us, health care costs are still too high, even for those with insurance. And medical debt is a problem for far too many working families, with one quarter of Americans reporting that they or someone in their household had problems or an inability to pay medical bills in the past year. Democrats will also work to end surprise billing and other practices that lead to out -of-control medical debt that place an unconscionable economic strain on American households. We will repeal the excise tax on high-cost health insurance and find revenue to offset it because we need to contain the long-term growth of health care costs, but should not risk passing on too much of the burden to workers. Democrats will keep costs down by making premiums more affordable, reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and capping prescription drug costs. And we will fight against insurers trying to impose excessive premium increases.

To summarize: A statement about the "right" of healthcare, followed by the self-serving pat on their own back for passing the ACA, congratulations for covering 20 million additional people (note that 33 million people right now still don't have health coverage) the gulp inducing vow that they will never falter in the generations-long fight for healthcare (meaning it will go on for countless more generations?) promises of access to a public option and an over 55 opt-in to Medicare, and then long shopping list of anticipated improvements, cost reductions, etc.

The fight to make even these improvements will be just as hard fought and vociferous as if the Dems had just gone ahead to get the real deal single payer National Health Insurance that Bernie Sanders and so many citizens want. So why not just do that? The short answer is because they (Dems) don't want to. Aside from the blow to their vanity at giving up their only signal legislative achievement, they are too beholden to the for-profit intermediary entities that have successfully maintained America's healthcare and pharmaceuticals as a cash cow. This obvious answer is the correct one.

Americans can look forward to another Clinton led, coma inducing effort to reform the reform. Whatever the public option mutates into, I doubt it will resemble an actual public option at the end of it all. I remember all too well during the last debacle when Chuck Schumer was trying to create the "even-playing field" Public Option which made the public option as expensive as the private options so that it had no profit threatening advantage in the marketplace.

But hey, everybody, healthcare is a right! Just not one everyone can exercise. If I am cynical about Democrats and health care reform, I can truthfully say it's because they made me that way.

UPDATE
In accepting the nomination last night, Hillary shed light on just exactly what is meant by the "right to healthcare" referenced by Rep. Cummings and President Obama and that is part of the Democratic Platform of 2016. She was clear that all three of those sources left out a critical modifier- the word "affordable". Here are her exact words from her speech:

"If you believe every man, woman, and child in America has the right to affordable health care - join us".

Glad that's clear now. In other words, despite making a big deal of substituting the word "right" as a replacement for "privilege", it's strictly a Dem marketing strategy. Hillary and no doubt the "stakeholders" of the various industries will determine for the rest of us what is "affordable".