Social Justice Applied to Healthcare
Social justice, the fair distribution of resources amongst the population, strives towards bringing equality to all, in this case, in the form of healthcare. The reasoning behind healthcare reform stems from distributive justice, which attempts to correct the disparity between readily accessible healthcare for the insured and the unavailability under and uninsured (Lachman, 2012, p. 249). The passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, opened up access to basic healthcare for a wider range of the population, many who had no healthcare access previously (Kelly, 2014, p. 1). With the wide distribution of healthcare access brings the duty of responsibility. This paper will explore and present the rationale
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Other terms associated with social justice are human rights, distribution of resources and human dignity. What it emphasizes is that all people have fundamental rights, including healthcare.
With respect to medical ethical principles, justice is one of the four fundamental values. Often emphasized are beneficence, non-maleficence, and autonomy. Justice is an equally important value, referring to fairness and equal rights to all individuals. We ask ourselves whether all individuals with the same medical conditions have the right to the same healthcare treatments. How, then, does “social justice” fit in the
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One of the aims of the Affordable Care Act was to make healthcare more accessible, affordable and the delivery of a higher quality. Included were previously uninsured individuals, and those who had insurance that didn’t provide them adequate coverage and security (Gable, 2011, p. 340-341).
Challenges to the Affordable Care Act
With the significant expansion of healthcare, the demand grows for primary care physicians (PCPs). The U.S. is facing shortages in doctors and other professionals who are needed to provide care in the office setting. One of the main reasons for this primary care physician shortage is relatively low pay and overall lifetime income compared with specialists (Collins, 2012, p. 41).
According to Collins (2012), the average compensation of primary care physicians (PCPs) is only almost 55% of that for other clinical specialties. Also, to add to this shortage, approximately 59 million Americans live in areas with a health professional shortage, primarily in rural and inner-city areas, where the population is medically underserved (Collins, 2012, p.