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Why Should We Eliminate Health Disparities?
Health disparities exist along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic class in US society. I argue that we should work to eliminate these health disparities because their existence is a moral wrong that needs to be addressed.
Health disparities are morally wrong because they exemplify historical injustices. Contractarian ethics, Kantian ethics, and utilitarian ethics all provide theoretical justification for viewing health disparities as a moral wrong, as do several ethical principles of primary importance in bioethics. The moral consequences of health disparities are also troubling and further support the claim that these disparities are a moral wrong. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides additional support that health disparities are a moral wrong, as does an analogy with the generally accepted duty to provide equal access to education.
In this article, I also consider and respond to 3 objections to my thesis. (Am J Public Health. 2010;100:S47-S51. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.171181)
ARE HEALTH DISPARITIES morally problematic, and is there a moral obligation to address such disparities? Despite the affluence of US society, health disparities exist along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic class. I argue that we should strive to eliminate these disparities because their existence is a moral wrong that requires addressing. My thesis comprises 2 tenets: (1) The existence of health disparities is a moral wrong, and (2) health disparities are a moral wrong that should be addressed. I will demonstrate that the existence of health disparities is morally problematic by applying several ethical theories as well as moral principles. I will also consider the significant ethical implications of the persistence of health disparities in the United States, as these offer additional support for the claim that health disparities are morally problematic. To demonstrate that the moral wrong of health disparities is a problem that requires addressing, I will appeal to rights and correlative duties, and I will draw an analogy between the right to reasonably equal access to health care and the right to reasonably equal access to education. Finally, I will consider and critically respond to several objections that can be offered against my thesis.
THE MORAL BASIS FOR ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES
To establish that health disparities are a moral wrong that should be eliminated, I must first demonstrate...