Health Medical Homework Help

I need a paragraph response to the post below:

To me, social justice means that the playing field for every single individual begins evenly. My version of social justice can only exist theoretically as it would require every person be afforded the same opportunities at wealth, education, healthcare, and basic resources regardless of gender, race, sexuality, birthplace, and all other factors beyond an individual’s control. Social justice is by far not the same as socialized medicine or communism. Socialized medicine is simply government-funded medical care, whereas communism is a social construct of no privately owned property with everything being controlled by a central government or leader.

The healthcare system is not fair. I personally am an emergency room nurse and see the same scenario mentioned in this week’s discussion prompt. We are primary care providers for many in our community because the poverty level here is above national average and most of our citizens do not have health insurance due to inability to afford it. While it can be frustrating as some do misuse the ER, a lot of people are there because they genuinely have no other option. Health insurance is expensive, health care without health insurance is even more expensive and no amount of “bootstrap pulling” is going to place some people in a position to afford either. I consider a healthy quality of life to be a human right. We weathered through the beginning and peak of a global pandemic by utilizing a socialized, government-funded health care system. Covid testing, unemployment, and now vaccination is being funded by governments instead of falling on the shoulders of individuals. And because of this, even uninsured populations are receiving care and immunizations that they otherwise would be forced to live without. Berger et al., (2020) speaks of the necessity of covid care being inclusive to be effective. In that same sense, people presenting to the emergency room for care they cannot afford at a primary physician office do deserve care despite inability to pay.

I would love to sit behind this keyboard and know the answer to all the questions proposed to us this week. However, I do not think there is any truly correct answer to what should be done if a medical care magic wand existed. I do know that what is currently in place is not conducive to combatting social injustice. We are not all born with a leveled playing field, we do not all begin at the same starting line. Until we do, the emergency room will be utilized as primary care for those unable to afford medical services elsewhere, prices for insured patients will continue to rise to cover the lost costs, and other people will live poor quality lives without medical care until they die because they cannot afford to pay for their basic needs.