Access to health is a basic right, as debated earlier, because it results in improving the well-being of many people within society. However, access to healthcare is a challenge for many, especially those classified as low-level socioeconomic individuals. This means that they have no stable jobs, lack medical insurance, and are likely from racially minority communities. The debate on access to health as a basic right touches on different aspects of life because it consists of how people are economically able to pay for healthcare. From a neutral perspective, access to health is a political, social, and economic issue. First, the political sector contributes a lot to the barriers present in healthcare. Secondly, the social aspect determines who can have direct access or not, while the economic aspect defines those who are eligible to access certain healthcare services.
The political sector comes up with laws and policies that divide people who can easily access healthcare as their basic right while others are left to fend for themselves. First, with programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, the government controls healthcare policies that facilitate the provision of care across the US (Patel & Rushefsky, 2014). Secondly, social structures put in place by the same government discriminate against some people from accessing healthcare as a basic need. This shows why people from racially minority communities are discriminated against accessing healthcare, especially if they do not have medical insurance. Thirdly, this issue is economical because people living in poverty and even the middle class have to struggle to have quality healthcare services. This is because medical insurance costs are higher than in the past five years, with a 12% increase, especially for those using private insurance companies (Patel & Rushefsky, 2014).
Access to healthcare should be a basic human right, but this issue’s scale goes beyond the patients. This is because people living in rural America, that is, 57 million Americans, suffer a shortage of doctors to provide healthcare services (Heath, 2022). Considering that this population lives in the rural part of America, an additional 5 million people is living in urban areas without access to healthcare. This is a problem that does deeper in American societies considering that most people living in abject poverty are left to rely on free medical care, which is low-quality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), 6.7% of adults in America fail to obtain healthcare as a basic need because of the increased cost. This shows that the increasing cost of medical care is becoming a challenge for many to bear, especially in the current economic times.
Access to healthcare as a basic right is a national issue in America that needs to be addressed effectively. Causes of this problem include; limited healthcare resources to areas that need the services (Gerisch, 2017). As indicated above, rural areas and low-income regions in America project poor healthcare services and increased barriers to care, classified as economic and social aspects in the PESTLE. Secondly, most people do not see healthcare as a basic human right because they are forced to pay huge amounts to get treated. Therefore, from an economic, political, and social perspective, this is not a basic human right because they must address their income issues to have high-quality healthcare. Thirdly, social structures put in place by the government act as a barrier for some people, especially those from racially minority communities, from access to healthcare as a basic human right.
Solving the healthcare issue by making it accessible to everyone includes the provision of education platforms that inform the public on which centers to go to and which medical covers to embrace (Heath, 2022). This socio-legal and technological issue needs to be addressed across America to ensure access to healthcare is perceived as a basic human right. Secondly, eliminating political indifferences regarding healthcare policies can help attain the vision of having healthcare as a basic right. This makes it easier to solve the issue because political giants differ on healthcare policies such as medical cover for those living under the poverty line. Thirdly, unlimited provision of resources within the healthcare sector acts as a change toward solving this issue (Gross, 2013). Without resources, hospitals cannot afford to operate or attend to all patients without considering the business part. This is an economic and legal perspective because most patients are likely to be sued without pay. However, if these resources are in good supply, healthcare access can be perceived as a basic human right.
The effects of not having access to healthcare as a basic human right include social instability as many victims of different illnesses rely on their loved ones or family to survive and meet medical bills. Secondly, as politics interfere with healthcare as a basic human right, it becomes challenging for healthcare organizations to decide on their loyalty towards the provision of care (Patel & Rushefsky, 2014). Furthermore, laws define which technological advancements can be used in healthcare and the legalities involved in ensuring that all parties involved in healthcare benefit. Thirdly, the rich and poor gap continues to increase as most poor people lack the economic advantage to access certain healthcare services (Patel & Rushefsky, 2014). This economic perspective contributes a lot because the increasing cost of living makes the poor more likely to avoid expensive healthcare services. On another note, as more people get denied accessing healthcare as a basic human right, they negatively impact the environment they live in. This is by indulging in poor medical practices that do not meet hygiene parameters, thus spreading illnesses fast across a particular population.
References
Heath, S. 2022. Top challenges impacting patient access to healthcare. Retrieved from: https://patientengagementhit.com/news/top-challenges-impacting-patient-access-to-healthcare
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2022. Access to healthcare. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/access-to-health-care.htm
Gerisch, M., 2017. Health care as a human right. Hum. Rts., 43, p.56.
Gross, A., 2013. Is there a human right to private health care?. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 41(1), pp.138-146.
Patel, K. and Rushefsky, M.E., 2014. Healthcare Politics and Policy in America: 2014. Routledge.
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