Biomaterial Database

The ethics of health care system reform. 1994

R M Lauve, and L B McCullough

The United States is now engaged in a momentous national debate about health care. How can we provide the best care possible while simultaneously containing cost (to promote the general economic integrity of society) and somehow maintain a semblance of a free health care marketplace. This is not just a political question; it is also a question of ethics. It is an ethical consideration because the current debate is not just about designing or promoting health care systems that can best address our concerns for costs, quality, and accessibility. It appears that at least some participants in the debate would not stop at arguing their beliefs as valid; they would make their beliefs law. Some urge the creation of the right to health care as a matter of law. There are significant differences between beliefs and rights, however, and they need to be considered carefully in the ongoing debate over the future of this country's health care delivery and financing system.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002961	Civil Rights	Legal guarantee protecting the individual from attack on personal liberties, right to fair trial, right to vote, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. (from http://www.usccr.gov/ accessed 1/31/2003)	Due Process,Minority Rights,Equal Protection,Legal Rights,Voting Rights,Civil Right,Legal Right,Minority Right,Protection, Equal,Right, Civil,Right, Legal,Right, Minority,Right, Voting,Rights, Civil,Rights, Legal,Rights, Minority,Rights, Voting,Voting Right
D004992	Ethics, Medical	The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.	Medical Ethics
D006297	Health Services Accessibility	The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.	Access To Care, Health,Access to Care,Access to Contraception,Access to Health Care,Access to Health Services,Access to Medications,Access to Medicines,Access to Therapy,Access to Treatment,Accessibility of Health Services,Availability of Health Services,Contraception Access,Contraceptive Access,Medication Access,Accessibility, Health Services,Contraceptive Availability,Health Services Geographic Accessibility,Program Accessibility,Access to Cares,Access to Contraceptions,Access to Medication,Access to Medicine,Access to Therapies,Access to Treatments,Access, Contraception,Access, Contraceptive,Access, Medication,Accessibilities, Health Services,Accessibility, Program,Availability, Contraceptive,Care, Access to,Cares, Access to,Contraception, Access to,Contraceptive Accesses,Health Services Availability,Medication Accesses,Medication, Access to,Medicine, Access to,Medicines, Access to,Therapy, Access to,Treatment, Access to
D012935	Social Justice	An interactive process whereby members of a community are concerned for the equality and rights of all.	Food Justice,Common Good,Justice,Obligations of Society,Good, Common,Justice, Food,Justice, Social
D012941	Social Responsibility	The obligations and accountability assumed in carrying out actions or ideas on behalf of others.	Obligation, Social,Responsibility, Social,Accountability,Communitarianism,Future Generations,Obligations to Society,Social Accountability,Accountability, Social,Future Generation,Generation, Future,Generations, Future,Obligations, Social,Responsibilities, Social,Social Obligation,Social Obligations,Social Responsibilities,Society, Obligations to
D014481	United States	A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D018166	Health Care Reform	Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.	Healthcare Reform,Health Care Reforms,Healthcare Reforms,Reform, Health Care,Reform, Healthcare,Reforms, Health Care,Reforms, Healthcare