Effects of Income Inequality on Quality of Healthcare

1338 Words3 Pages

Positive rights are rights that everyone is entitled to including: the right to a public education, access to public roads, and the right to health care. There are no guarantees when it comes to life, but having health insurance makes a huge difference with preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases. Of course having insurance itself is a great resource to ensure medical care and containing costs, but not all insurance programs are created equal. Insurance programs have caveats, exclusions, varying co-payments, and access to certain doctors and hospitals, which creates an ethical dilemma. Receiving the best care is subjective in most cases, but with money you can buy almost anything, including the best care. Although those living in poverty are given access to healthcare, that does not mean they receive the best or equal care as those who are wealthy. Living in a capitalist society, the richest Americans enjoy larger homes, nicer cars, better education and even health care. Even if we lived in a capitalist society where everyone had access to the same basic healthcare program, the rich would still be able to afford better care. The wealthy are able to pay more in co-payments, prescription costs, and the ability to go outside of the healthcare system in this country to seek help. When you have the disposable resources then the sky is the limit, where the poor have very limited options. They will be confined to their healthcare coverage program and do not have the luxury of seeking additional assistance. “Poor patients often receive less quality care in the hospital, have more barriers to recovery, and experience higher morbidity and mortality than do patients with higher incomes” (Dracup). The United States is ... ... middle of paper ... ...ndards and practices are more uniform based on circumstance and not based on loopholes, exceptions or lack of insurance. Everyone should be given the same preventive care and be able to receive the same treatment options regardless of location, income, or age. Competition in the marketplace can be good, but there are many complexities with healthcare and many people can slip through the cracks and others can be shortchanged. Works Cited C. Wayne Sells and Robert Wm. Blum, "Morbidity and Mortality among US Adolescents: An Overview of Data and Trends," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Vol. 86, No. 4 (April, 1996), pgs. 513-519. R. Wilkinson and K. Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, Bloomsbury Press, NY, 2009, in particular pages 49- 173. Income Inequalities , Health and the Garrison State by Christopher Schaefer

Show More
Related

  • Socioeconomic Inequalties in Health in the UK

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humans are mortal beings, therefore with life comes death; this is a certainty. What is not so certain is the quality of life which one will lead thereto; and the variances they will face in life which will underwrite a person’s health. Health, which can be measured, regulates the quality and longevity of people’s lives. People have long since philosophised that it is “luck of the draw” as to who are inflicted with illness or disease. In fact, through research and consensus reports, analysis has concluded that social, economic and environmental influences are contributing factors. This essay will explore some of the main issues regarding health and consequences of lifestyle choices. Furthermore, recognition and critique will be focused on the principal reports and recommendations therein regarding health inequalities.

    Read More

  • Proposition 45: The Health Care Debate in America

    2176 Words  | 5 Pages

    Furthering Ubel 's analysis, an anonymous writer in "The Right to Healthcare" also believes that things can be improved for health insurance and anything that applies. "In the process, the level of care could actually be improved, with health care funding decisions based on public health needs, not distorted as they now are by the profit based priorities of health insurers and other profit-maximizing actors in the health care field" (The Right to Healthcare). This is related to Proposition 45, decisions are being made over funding to maximize profit, not to better the patient, so if passed this issue would be elevated. The writer starts off this article by stating that the United States is not a member to the economic and social rights treaty partially due to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights containing what is considered affirmative rights. Anonymous delves into the rule of the government to not impose obstacles to the realization of the rights and to take all appropriate measures to fulfill their affirmative rights obligations. The writer states that when it comes to healthcare, the governments cannot rely on the market to deliver health care. The sick cannot be penalized for needing healthcare, especially in poor regions. Anonymous gives the statistic of forty-five million people not having health insurance in the United States, following this, another fifty million have inadequate insurance. If a person 's health insurance is already inadequate to par, wouldn 't enacting a bill such as prop 45 only put more of a hindrance on the carrier. For those who do not have health insurance, proposition 45 would hurt them much more considering that usually they go to a clinic where they are seen for free or have a payment plan in place. The Proposition would quite possibly make it so that a person with no health insurance could not go to a clinic due

    Read More

  • Wilkinson & Pickett's 'Spirit Level Book'

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Furthermore, Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) argue that health and social problems are worse in more unequal societies. Because of inequality, poverty, social exclusion with the underclass and their welfare dependency, life expectancy is less, mental illness and drug use is high and educational success and social mobility is limited. Data about the United States’ society also finds a correlation between lower death rates and higher incomes, a core t...

    Read More

  • Health Care Reform And Equity : Promise, Pitfalls, And Prescriptions

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are six major take away points from this article. The first key point discussed is “improving health care system access” (Fiscella, 2011). The poor under privileged are typically the people who have the least amount of access to effective health care. Once ACA provisions reach its projected coverage it will “still leave 23 million persons, including undocumented immigrants, without any coverage” (Fiscella, 2011).

    Read More

  • Healthcare Disparities among African Americans

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.

    Read More

  • The Health Insurance Crisis in America

    2561 Words  | 6 Pages

    Our great and powerful nation, the United States, a country that much of the world views as the most highly developed nation in the world, is the only industrialized country that does not provide its citizens with universal health care, according to a report by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA 1). Being that we are a capitalist economy, perhaps the government feels it is the duty of the people to make sure they are taken care of. This makes sense, doesn’t it? We are all smart individuals; we can make decisions and take action for ourselves. But what can the individuals do when the cost of insurance and health care is too high for them to handle?

    Read More

  • Healthcare Coverage: Unequal based on Wealth

    1951 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...never the government talks about positive rights a portion of the country will express distention, but this would be a utilitarian idea and many people would benefit from this change. Unfortunately, there is no magical switch that can be flipped to have healthcare equality in the United States overnight, but over time with a public healthcare program we can ensure that everyone is given the same basic care and continue working toward healthcare equality.

    Read More

  • Ethnic Inequality in Health Care

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this essay is to firstly give an overview of the existence of inequalities of health related to ethnicity, by providing some evidence that ethnic inequality in health is a reality in the society and include definitions of keywords. Secondly, I will bring forward arguments for and against on the major sociological explanations (racial discrimination, arefact, access to and quality of care) for the existence of health inequalities related to ethnicity. Thirdly, I would also like to take the knowledge learnt for this topic and brief outline how this may help me in future nursing practice.

    Read More

  • The Legalizing Marijuana Debate

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Center for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) June 18, 1993. Mortality Trends and Leading Causes of Death Among Adolescents and Young Adults – United States, 1979-1988. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). 42(23);459-462

    Read More

  • Health Inequality Within Communities

    2575 Words  | 6 Pages

    Public health as it is implicated in the lives of the community – it is important to conceptualise what this might mean. Moreover, public health has seen as a multidiscipline perspective in which it can be defined on many levels, and I find that it could be elusive to understand its meaning. By simple understanding of public health, I refer to an approach derived by Winslow (1920) and Baggott (2000).

    Read More

  • Social Problem Of Income Inequality

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    Those who are at the bottom 20 percent don’t have access to things like health care and proper education. Health care is a major issue in most cities in America. While watching the movie “Poor America” there was a scene when the people making the movie decided to film outside a center where doctors and dentists would be performing free services. The line was extremely long and people would be camped outside just so they could see a doctor. Many people who were there had serious injuries and sicknesses and hadn’t seen a doctor or a dentist in a very long time. One gentleman in particular was so sick that the doctors strongly suggested he go to the emergency room, that his sickens could be fatal. However at the end the gentlemen refused to go to the emergency because the medical bill would be extremely

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: The Right To Health Care

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    Next, many citizens are unaware when it comes to their rights and what they may be entitled to. Many are unaware that if they cannot afford health insurance, their rights have being infringed upon. The “human right to health” means that everyone has the right to the best standard of physical and mental health, which includes access to all medical and health services, proper sanitation, healthy adequate food, healthy working conditions, and a clean environment.

    Read More

  • Assess The Difference Between Positive And Negative Rights

    160 Words  | 1 Pages

    The difference between positive and negative rights is that one has to do something while the other does not. A general definition of positive rights is that it is the right to be provided goods or services. It is harder to philosophically justify positive rights over negotiate rights, because positive rights obligates a person to do something. Negative rights are the rights to be left alone and to refuse care and to do things on a voluntary bias. An example of a positive right is getting treated at a hospital a doctor has to treat his patient and he cannot refuse to do so. On the other hand, an example of negative rights could be a clerk refusing to sell a person an item because they do not have enough money. Negative rights and positive

    Read More

  • Inequities In Health

    1917 Words  | 4 Pages

    Step 1: Topic 1; Significant concerns confronting Australian society are the inequities in health between socioeconomic (SES) groups which result in lower SES groups having significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality at an earlier age. Follow table 1 to apply the SI template to analyse the construction of this problem for a disadvantaged group in Australia and reflect on the social model of health to reduce these inequities.

    Read More

  • Action Plan to Avoid Adolescent Pregnancy

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dryfoos, J. G. (1990). Adolescents at risk: Prevalence and prevention. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Read More

More about Effects of Income Inequality on Quality of Healthcare

Open Document