The Relationship Between Health And The United States And Two Theories Discussed During This Justice Theory Course Essay

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

In the movie Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, it compared the lives of four individuals, Taylor, Young, Anderson, and Turner, in different locations, race, and socioeconomic background. The scale of difference between this group of people is that it goes from financially stable and healthy individuals to individuals with lower income and poorer health. This wealth-health gradient reflects that those who have easier access to healthier lifestyles (i.e. running outside without the concern of safety) are more likely to have a higher life expectancy than those who are in living environments that are not as developed and lack healthier options of nutrition. The difference of the average life expectancy scaled down from Jim Taylor whose neighborhood had an average life expectancy of 80 years, Young’s 75.3 years,

In addition, they endure more stressful family and work conditions which can lead to unhealthy lifestyle characteristics, such as excessive use of alcohol and may…(reword) poor nutrition” (19). In other words, the more prestige/power one has within society, the better their chances are of living longer. Scott’s article Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer; provided many examples that showed the inequality between the classes. For example, Jean Miele’s case; he had a heart attack and because of his social class—and connections established through his status—he was surrounded by two knowledgeable colleagues that knew something was seriously wrong with Miele, therefore; immediately calling an ambulance. In addition, because of the neighborhood Miele was in during the heart attack he was given a choice of where we was to go to receive medical care; within minutes of arriving at the chosen hospital, he was in line for an angioplasty to unclog the affected artery. After the heart attach Miele entered a cardiac rehab which was covered through his insurance. As Scott showed in her article, Miele never once considered the amount this operation cost or the price for his cardiac rehab treatment.

According to Riegelman and Kirkwood (2015) there are many social determinants that influence our health. These may include, but are not limited to; income, educational level, culture, and professional status. All of these things can contribute to our health, because they are the things we are surrounded with: a way of life. Most of these determinants are structurally unequal. This means that a person doesn’t have a choice, but to be part of that determinant. We do not have the choice of being born into a rich or poor family, what culture we are raised in, and so on. These inequalities lead to heath disparities. Health disparities are the differences between groups’ health that are/ can be caused by structural inequalities (Disparities 2017). For example, Henrietta Lacks came from a poor family and her health was negatively affected by the social determinants that come along with that lifestyle. On the other hand, we could look at a rich family during that time and their health could have been positively affected. We will look at how different social determinants caused Henrietta Lacks to experience both structural inequalities and heath disparities.

The Health and Wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of themselves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor clinical outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, poor healthcare, on stable employment, and uncertain physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is a somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have sufficient funds to pay for said resources will, unfortunately, have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.

These disparities are obvious in some key measures of wellbeing including life expectancy, the risk for disease, and access to health care (Disparities in Health, 2015). Historically, the major factors contributing to shorter longevity and high rates of disease are overcrowding, poor sanitation and low availability of treatment facilities. However, the change of theses socioeconomic

Health justice is a broad term. For me it means that everyone is able to receive health care despite where they are, what their background is, and how much money they have. Although this is the case, the current world health system isn’t like this. Health care is not as accessible as it should be. Many poorer, developing countries are still facing shortages of health care clinics in their area. The people in the world who do have health care, on the other hand, are the ones who are well off and have more money. Thankfully, due to the efforts of many different individuals and organizations, the healthcare system is slowly shifting over to where we want it to be. Not saying that it is perfect, we still have a long ways to go before we are able to create total health justice, but we are on our way for a world with health care that everyone is able to access and get the proper care they deserve.

Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick, clearly explored the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, it was said that college graduates live 2.5 years longer than high school graduates” (California Newsreel, 2008). This documentary illustrated how one’s level of education not only impacts their quality of life, but also impacts the duration of one’s life.

First, there is Jim Taylor, Hospital CEO, District 16; second, Tondra Young, Clinical Lab Supervisor, District 24; lastly, Corey Anderson, Floor Technician, District 21. The population of each district decreases in average income, education level and life expectancy than its preceding district, beginning with district 16, Jim Taylor’s district. District 16 has an average combined household income of approximately $120,000/ annually. In this district, 65% of the population has a college degree and the life expectancy in this district is 82 years. Whereas, Tondra Young’s district, district 24, has an average combined household income of $70,000/annually and 15% of the population has a college degree. The life expectancy of district 24 is 75 years, that’s 7 years less than district 16. In district 21, Corey Anderson’s district, the average combined household income is less than $50,000/ annually and only 5% of the districts population have college degrees. Consequently, the life expectancy of district 21 is 70 years, 5 years less than district 24 and 12 years less than district 16 (Adelman 2008). The results of this study are indisputable: there is an obvious correlation between social/economic status and health status. As each districts average income and education level decrease, average life expectancy coincides. This leads to the next question: why does social and economic status so greatly influence health status?

The Health and wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of them selves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor health outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, in adequate healthcare, on stable employment, and unsafe physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have adequate funding to pay for said resources will unfortunately have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.

(). The article continues stating social determinants of health are the main reason health inequality exist and defines social determinants as “social, economic, political and legal forces under which people live. These determinants include wealth/income, education, criminal justice, physical environment, health care, housing, employment, stress, and racism/discrimination.” (). Going on to say poor whites live 3 years longer than poor blacks and middle class whites live 10 years longer than middle class

In the video Unnatural Causes, there is an evident social determinant of wealth that creates a wealth-health gradient.  It is important to distinguish the idea of a gradient from the perspective of only looking at the interaction of health with wealth at a dichotomous scale. Instead, in a gradient, there are gradual continuous changes in health outcomes as wealth is changed. The cases of the individuals presented in the video exemplify the gradation relationship between wealth and health. In the case of Jim Taylor, his affluent community bins him in a category where life expectancy is amongst the highest in the nation.

classes are perhaps not as clear as they used to be. But it is just as

Arguing whether health care should be basic human rights comes down to the question of what is just. Distributive justice--justice regarding the fair distribution of society’s advantages and disadvantages and more--will help the debate. There are different views to this question, including libertarian theories of justice, utilitarian theories of justice, and egalitarian theories of justice. There are also Kantian view and human rights view. Libertarian theories of justice states that the benefits and burdens of society should be distributed through the fair workings of a free market.

Health is declared as a basic human right by the universal declaration of human rights in 1948, stating that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one 's family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care." Endowment of health is a fundamental good and a moral issue because it provides opportunity to pursue life goals, reduces pain and suffering, prevents premature loss of life, and provides information needed to plan lives (Jacobson and Mathur, 2010). However, it is not later than three decades ago that health is placed high on international agenda. This international agenda has strongly passed on into almost all countries after the report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, that investing in health leads to economic development. This reports emphasized health as a resource for everyday life and as driver of economy of nation (WHO, 2001).