Is access to healthcare an ethical issue?

Asked by: Theodora Schmitt  |  Last update: June 20, 2025
Score: 4.3/5 (57 votes)

There is a general moral obligation of society to ensure that level of access for all, and we have argued that the obligation falls ultimately on the federal government.

What is the problem with access to healthcare?

Inadequate health insurance coverage is one of the largest barriers to health care access,3 and the unequal distribution of coverage contributes to disparities in health.

What is an example of an ethical issue in healthcare today?

Examples of ethical dilemmas in healthcare

Whenever a patient undergoes treatment, there are always medical ethical issues to negotiate. Issues with waiting lists, access to medical resources, and decisions on the correct course of treatment all pose ethical dilemmas.

Why is access to healthcare a moral right?

The right to health for all people means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without suffering financial hardship. No one should get sick and die just because they are poor, or because they cannot access the health services they need.

What are examples of public health ethical issues?

Public and clinical health workers often face ethical challenges such as balancing individual rights with community health, ensuring equitable resource allocation, and managing sensitive health data.

What does access to care really mean? Episode 8 of "That's Public Health"

15 related questions found

Which is an example of an ethical issue?

The most commonly experienced ethical issues include discrimination, harassment, unethical accounting, technological abuse, data privacy, health and safety, and favoritism and nepotism. Most of these concerns are experienced in workplaces.

How is ethics connected to public health?

Public health ethics uses a systematic approach to clarify, prioritize, and justify possible courses of public health action. These actions are based on ethical principles, values and beliefs of stakeholders, and scientific and other information.

Is it a right to have access to healthcare?

Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides, “Everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care . . . and the right to security in the event of sickness [and] disability. . . .” The ...

Should everyone have access to healthcare?

The American College of Physicians says that the United States needs a healthcare system that provides care for everyone, either through a universal health insurance system, such as the UK NHS, or through a pluralistic system that involves the government and private organisations.

What are the ethical arguments against universal healthcare?

A universal health care system would remove people's right to make choices about their own life by saying that the government knows best, and the result would likely be poorer quality healthcare for individuals because it's designed for the average [person].”

How to prevent ethical issues in healthcare?

We recommend pursuing the following actions to prevent and appropriately respond to egregious ethical violations in medicine.
  1. Recruit Trainees, Physicians and Staff Who Embrace the Positive, Core Values of Medicine. ...
  2. Educate Leaders to Create a Culture of Professional Integrity. ...
  3. Provide Feedback to Physicians.

What are the 4 ethical principles of healthcare?

Beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice constitute the 4 principles of ethics.

What are the five ethical issues?

Here are five ethically questionable issues you may face in the workplace and how you can respond.
  • Unethical Leadership. ...
  • Toxic Workplace Culture. ...
  • Discrimination and Harassment. ...
  • Unrealistic and Conflicting Goals. ...
  • Questionable Use of Company Technology.

When did access to healthcare become a problem?

It was in 1938, she argues, that the structural problems with the U.S. health care system began. In order to understand why 1938 is the key year, it helps to understand how people paid for and thought about health care before that point.

How can we fix access to healthcare?

Consider the following five evidence-based approaches to improving access to health care.
  1. Expand Insurance to Cover Health Care Costs. ...
  2. Extend Telehealth Services. ...
  3. Invest in Mobile Clinics. ...
  4. Educate the Public About Multiple Health Care Sites. ...
  5. Improve Cultural Responsiveness.

What is a barrier to accessing healthcare?

Insurance coverage is one component of access to care. However, even among the insured, substantial barriers to accessing services exist. 2,3. Low levels of trust in physicians,4 work/family obligations,5 and long wait times6 have all been identified as inhibiting healthcare access.

Why healthcare should not be for everyone?

Beyond individual and federal costs, other common arguments against universal healthcare include the potential for general system inefficiency, including lengthy wait-times for patients and a hampering of medical entrepreneurship and innovation [3,12,15,16].

What are the disparities in healthcare access?

Healthcare disparities are differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services and variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified ...

Do most Americans have access to healthcare?

The Share of Americans Without Health Insurance in 2023 Remained Low. In 2023, 26 million people — or 8 percent of the population — were uninsured, according to a report in September 2024 from the Census Bureau.

Should access to healthcare be a moral right?

The main objective of this study is to suggest a conceptual foundation for a universal right to health care access, meaning that all humankind should be enabled to access to health care of appropriate quality. This universal right is a moral right that could also become a legal one.

Why should healthcare be accessible to everyone?

Access to healthcare means having “the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcomes.”1 Access to comprehensive, quality healthcare services is important for promoting and maintaining health, preventing and managing disease, reducing unnecessary disability and premature death, and achieving ...

What are the pros and cons of universal healthcare?

Here are some of the key arguments for and against universal health care.
  • Pro: a healthier society. ...
  • Con: longer wait times. ...
  • Pro: people over profit. ...
  • Con: fairness vs freedom. ...
  • Pro: control over costs. ...
  • Con: limited budgets.

What is the biggest ethical issue in healthcare today?

Ethical Issues in Healthcare
  1. Patient Privacy and Confidentiality. The protection of private patient information is one of the most important ethical and legal issues in the field of healthcare. ...
  2. Transmission of Diseases. ...
  3. Relationships. ...
  4. End-of-Life Issues.

What is an example of an ethical issue in public health?

Public health emergencies present serious ethical challenges in the form of resource allocation, priority-setting, physical distancing, public health surveillance, health-care worker's rights and obligations to conduct of clinical trials.

How does ethics relate to healthcare?

It is important to note that ethical principles and codes of ethics are not legal requirements and are not public policy documents. Basic ethical principles provide guidance for healthcare workers to protect the rights of individuals and support an ethical culture for safety, health, and well-being for all.