AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE - Essay Example

How Does Our Society Prevent Another Rosalyn Schwartz Apparently, the case of Rosalyn Schwartz, reviewed in Gregory Pences “Medicine and Inequity: Accounts of the Cases that Shape and Define Medical Practice” is one of the most striking instances of inequity in the health care. The case of that victim of American health care, who did not received timely medical help and due to the absence of medical insurance is notorious of the bug in the system. The dramatic outcome of Rosalyns breast cancer ascertain the need to seek ethically righteous solution, which would fit into the Aristotelian concept of the distributive justice.

Thinking of the possible strategies and reforms to mitigate the problem, I came up with the accurate suggestions and critical thoughts on Medicare, which I would share within the following reflection. As it has been mentioned in the case, the Rosalyns preexisting condition of ulcer restrained her from receiving due to the few compounding circumstances: first, she was divorced, second, her annual salary at the gift-wrapping company of $19,000 was insufficient to cover medical care and the employee did not provided any sort of medical coverage for her, the last, but not the least, a “relatively innocent” disorder, an ulcer, made so far expensive medical insurance to cost like a sort of luxury.

Obviously, if Rosalyn was not rejected at first, her cancer would not metastasized into womans hips and she would not break her fragile hip bone. The woman died a decade after her surgeries. In the aftermath of Rosalyns case, it may seem that costly medical advantages seem to be a kind of unattainable service even for those, who are, like, Rosalyn, in desperate need for emergent medical assistance. It is impossibly cruel to make someone suffer, witness how their health state progressively deteriorate.

What make things feel even worse, is that getting sick for average middle-aged employed American citizen is a sort of fatal disaster. Rosalyns case seems to be outrageous, if observed through the lens of distributive justice theory. That concept is related to the fair distribution of existent resources amidst diverse members of the society. That justice is grounded on the total amount of goods to be allocated, the procedure and distributive pattern. In the health care settings, like in any other field, distributive justice is expected to work for the good of patients.

Allocation of medical services, thereof, should be based on the criteria of need, equity and equality. Currently, the United States of America maintains a patchwork system of five programs, namely, Medicare, CHAMPUS/Tricare, employment-sponsored coverage and private medical insurance. However, there are roughly 18,000 Americans who did not fall into any of the mentioned categories. Even such complex medical system make these citizen devoid of the essential care, which, crucially, guarantees their basic human right for life.

In the aftermath of the following case one should consider a few facts. All things considered, the efficiency of the American medical system can be questioned even further, if to look at the example of Canada and some European countries. In Canada, for instance, medical coverage for every individual, without exception, is subsidized on the alcohol, gasoline and cigarettes taxation. The average cost per person is around $2,000, while we pay as much as $6,280 and leave 50 million of our population, devoid of medical help.

To conclude, the following statistics and real-life example of Rosalyn Schwartz one should acknowledge the necessity of adopting health care policies that are Canada or other European countries run. At least, AmeriCare is need of reformation, it should be all-inclusive and just.ReferencesOBrian, W. Distributive Justice and the Harm Principle. SSRN Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1503963Pence, G. (2004). Classic Cases in Medical Ethics. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill.