Healthcare
Healthcare as a Right or Privilege
I believe healthcare should be regarded as a privilege instead of a right. This is because of the following reasons. First, healthcare services are just like every other commodity in the market. The principles of economics that apply to economics are also applicable to healthcare. Additionally, like how other commodities act as privileges to those who can afford to buy them, healthcare accessibility is more of a privilege to those who can afford issues in Healthcare, 2021). Some individuals get more quality healthcare than others, depending on the resources they pay to get the services.
Additionally, healthcare is a privilege and not a right because it is a limited economic resource that requires money. The more the money, the more the privilege of accessing and earning healthcare services and vice versa (Issues in Healthcare, 2021). Healthcare is considered a right is just the idealization that citizens are entitled to healthcare because of their existence, while in the real sense, it’s a privilege because, in reality, it is associated with costs that only those who are competitive in the market can afford. Declaring healthcare as a right is not a guarantee of its provision.
Healthcare is also a privilege because it is earned from a personal responsibility. It is determined by choice and responsibility, where individuals are obligated to take the necessary actions to improve their health. The decisions they make regarding actions to take to improve their health are significantly impacted by the money they have.
How the Changing Healthcare Environment Impacted My Practice
The changing healthcare environment has had a significant impact on the nursing sector. The changes have impacted me in the following ways. First, I have learned the importance of keeping updated with the latest technological trends, ensuring I adapt to these technological advances to provide optimal care by training online on how to use these emerging tools. The changing healthcare environment has also pushed me to become a leader in the healthcare field. The changes have increased responsibilities and expectations for nurses, forcing us to be confident and hardworking as we fill those roles.
Additionally, the changing healthcare environment has fostered a culture of partnership in the healthcare field. The changes emphasize the importance of nurses partnering and voicing their concerns for the progression of healthcare. The changing environment has forced nurses to collaborate more effectively to provide comprehensive, coordinated care.
In addition, the changing healthcare environment has changed the way nurses previously interacted with their patients. The emphasis is to provide patients with care in a more personalized way to enhance the patient’s engagement and experience and improve the overall clinical outcome (Nursing Practice & Education, 2020). This has led me to develop empathy and compassion. I have to keep the patient in the loop, understand their concern, know what they want, and provide care satisfactorily to meet their needs and preferences. Additionally, with the changing healthcare environment, there are frequent regulatory updates, and I must ensure I stay informed when providing care. This involves keeping up with the latest evidence-based research findings from reputable sources, including clinical practice guidelines and journals.
Discussion reply 1
Health Care, a Right or a Privilege
Health care is among the most important factors that have elicited passionate discussion about whether it is a right or a privilege in society. Therefore, it is possible to reconcile the pulling of opposite thought processes by addressing ethical, practical, and philosophic questions surrounding the issue with a fair and balanced perspective regarding healthcare access and distribution.
Based on this point of view, it is against the principles of health care that people should be denied access to services they need based on their ability to pay. This view originates from the understanding of health as an inalienable right and from the prognosis of a society to be responsible for the well-being of its population. Binkley (2020) notes that it is paramount that citizens be granted access to healthcare, mostly because this stems from an ethical principle of justice. Within this context, healthcare delivery systems must reflect the principles of universal care, writing off the possibility of anyone being locked out of a system because of a lack of adequate funds. It encourages a group responsibility in financing health care through taxation, consolidating the view of health care as a public good.
In contrast, those who consider health care a privilege fully explain that it is not a right everyone is entitled to but rather a product to which people with certain status, employment, and financial capabilities are entitled. This worldview focuses on individual initiatives and market relations to define the availability and quality of healthcare services. According to Binkley (2020), from this perspective, the healthcare sector should operate within market institutions whereby competition and choices by consumers allow the crafting of doctors’ services that are efficient and innovative. Reasons, why advocates support this idea, include boosting the motivation of workers and better and healthier lives of patients through improving the efforts of the healthcare system. However, Klunk (2022) brings more nuance into the debate because while he does not deny that healthcare is a right, he also asserts that it is not a privilege either—it is something else entirely. According to Klunk (2022), health care is a basic need that has to be protected, yet it can hardly be regarded as a pure right. It is a mixture of right and marketplace. It recognizes the fact that healthcare financing has its bounds and that it cannot cater to the needs of every individual. However, it remains right and moral to try as much as possible to attend to every person who presents himself/herself to the healthcare system. If addressing the issue as a human right in need of health care, government and policymakers can adopt what Hallmark describes as a twin-track approach that involves the provision of public funding for basic health care and market incentives for innovation in other sectors.
In conclusion, they are striving for the common belief that people must stay healthy as a right and a privilege must be acknowledged and addressed with a complex approach through which health care must be viewed as a basic necessity. This approach has to embrace both justice-oriented ethical principles and more practical and logistical concerns connected to the economic feasibility of the process and the consequent optimal outcomes. In this way, society can move toward a health care system that guarantees everyone a right to health and promotes the development of new methods that will make people responsible for their health.
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