With our economy in crisis, President Barack Obama newly sworn in and health reform hearings under way this week in the Legislature, only one thing is certain about U.S. health care: We cannot afford the status quo.

The silver lining in this crisis is that it offers us the opportunity to build a high-quality, sustainable health system -- one founded on the premise that every person should be able to get the health care they need, rather than viewing health care as a consumer product that we can buy or forgo.

Patients get sicker, and cost more, when care is delayed. Take, for example, Joey, an uninsured 3-year-old whose mother couldn't afford asthma medications. As a result, Joey wound up in the emergency room with a serious asthma flare costing 10 to 15 times more than the medicine that would have prevented it. Or David, a retired store manager who, despite his Medicare coverage, was unable to find a doctor to treat complications of stepping on a thumbtack with a foot rendered numb from years of diabetes, because he lacked a Medicare supplemental policy. After searching for weeks in vain, he finally came to the hospital, his foot now afflicted with gangrene and in need of an emergency amputation. Timely care would have saved his foot at a tiny fraction of the cost.

As a society, we pay dearly, in human terms and in cold dollars, when people lack access to care. Now, with such giants as Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing and Washington Mutual announcing job layoffs, more people will lose their health benefits. And, like Joey and David, when they get sick or injured, many will get care only when their situation becomes an emergency. Those high expenses are passed on to all of us in the form of skyrocketing health costs.

In an effort to develop options, the Legislature commissioned an economic analysis of five state health reform proposals. The analysis, prepared by Mathematica Policy Research, will be presented at hearings this week. In these tumultuous times, it may be tempting for lawmakers to favor the plan that costs the least in the short run, or to take no action. But that won't make people's unmet health needs go away.

As physicians, we believe the only way to create a durable system -- one that is equitable and affordable, allowing everyone to get the care they need -- is to design it around human rights principles that make protection of health paramount.

Using that approach, Northwest Health Law Advocates has just released a human rights evaluation of the five proposals that complements Mathematica's primarily economic analysis (available at nohla.org). NoHLA found that some reform proposals -- those that would cover all state residents -- are better than others but all need to pay more attention to human rights values.

And that is what Washingtonians want. In eight health care caucuses around the state in 2008, more than 1,000 people emphasized the need for universal coverage, affordability and access for all, reflecting those values.

Fortunately, the ethical choice is also the economically prudent choice. There is a false perception that we must choose between lower cost and broader access.

But creating a health system for all is the only sustainable solution over the long haul. It is the only way to prevent the sad stories and poor health outcomes physicians see every day. The quick fixes will just widen disparities and reduce access, which will drive up costs in the long run. Investing in comprehensive coverage, so the Joeys and Davids of our country get timely, appropriate care rather than requiring expensive treatment, will save money and improve health.

The best measure of who we are as a people is how we behave in times of crisis. As state and federal lawmakers consider options for reform, they should treat health care not as just another consumer product, but as a basic human right, like clean air and water.

Benjamin Danielson, M.D., is medical director of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic and teaches at the University of Washington. Hugh Foy, M.D., is a Seattle physician, surgeon and educator.