health cap week 4 db

Healthcare

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Healthcare

Introduction

Recent research has shown that for most of the countries in the world, the government plays a core role in covering all the health care needs for its citizens ensuring that people get access to the best health care services. Contrary to this, such does not happen in the United States of America where the private sector in the form of employer-sponsored health insurance serves as the dominant form of medical coverage. Therefore, the core aim of this essay is to comprehensively highlight the problems that exist because of the dominant form of employer-sponsored health insurance, the reform actions the U.S government to reduce these problems and finally give the definition of the ethical principle of justice and its role in the U.S health care system.

Problems of employer-sponsored health insurance in the U.S

Employer-sponsored health insurance is completely an abstract idea to most of the American people and has become more complicated and convoluted over the years as it has proven more expensive to most of the American citizens. In effect, many people are shut out of the healthcare system due to incredibly high prices and unaffordable premiums offered by the insurance companies. Majority of the people in this case are not offered insurance as part of their compensation packages and in effect, have to figure out things on their own.

Moreover, the system of providing employees with health insurance is outdated and ineffective and only worked for a while. In that it sounds so strange and weird for Hobby Lobby to mandate the type of healthcare provisions its employees receive based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners. For instance, Hobby Lobby’s arguments were merely based on misunderstood concepts and flawed science and as a result the Supreme Court ruled that the employers’ religious beliefs would take precedent over medical needs of their employees. This was an unfair concept on the employees basing on the fact that people are different and also have varied religious beliefs. For example, if a company’s leadership decides that it doesn’t believe in treating cancer, employees will end up suffering and dying as a consequence.

Reforms the U.S government has taken

Significantly, the Affordable Care Act sometimes referred to as the Obamacare was formed and as a result, has helped lower the number of uninsured individuals ensuring that they get medical care. This particular Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President and put in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that put consumers back in charge of their healthcare. It therefore worked to make healthcare be one of high quality, affordable, accessible to seniors, families and all the tax payers alike. For instance, this included the previously uninsured Americans and even those who had insurance.

Definition of the ethical principle of justice

Ethical principle of justice refers to the equitable allocation of resources and healthcare dollars. It is then responsible with the equitable distribution of benefits and involves the application of fairness to individuals in population groups and communities.

The role of the ethical principle of justice in the U.S healthcare system

Consequently, its major role is to ensure that patients are treated without discrimination by medical professionals and policy makers and engages humanitarian and pragmatic concerns to ensure that these policies are put into practice. Therefore it ensures that a just healthcare system provides universal coverage in the form of affordable and effective healthcare for all.

Reference

Morrisey, A. (2011). Medical Reforms and Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance premiums. Journal of American Medical System, 54-59.

Peele, B. (2013). Employer-sponsored health insurance. Journal of American Healthcare system, Vol.78.