Social justice in health care translates to the delivery of high-quality care to all individuals. Achieving social justice is critical in health care to ensure that all individuals can maintain their highest level of health and wellness.

Health Justice is a collective concept that should be considered a fundamental human right.” “Health justice gives human dignity to everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from. It means access to equitable and affordable quality care for all.

Above and beyond the UN system and Declarations, a theory of global health justice is necessary to guide international and domestic institutions, groups, and individuals as we articulate what we owe both foreign and domestic individuals to ensure the social conditions for all to be healthy.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a state Medicaid Expansion Initiative to provide health insurance coverage for the remaining population of uninsured adults who suffer from poverty. The program was designed as a primary tool to promote social justice.

The main players in the U.S. health service system are the physicians, administrators of health service institutions, insurance executives, large employers, and the government. One positive effect of the opposing factors is they prevent any single entity from dominating the whole system.

Equity in the health sector can be measured using the concepts of health status, distribution of resources, expenditures, utilization, and access (Culyer and Wagstaff, 1993, Musgrove, 1986). Defining equity as equality of health status has intuitive and normative appeal.

Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.

equal opportunity to be healthy

The report describes nine determinants of health that are drivers of health inequities: income and wealth, housing, health systems and services, employment, education, transportation, social environment, public safety, and physical environment.

Healthy People 2020 defines a health disparity as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage….

• Race and ethnicity.
• Gender.
• Sexual identity and orientation.
• Disability status or special health care needs.
• Geographic location (rural and urban)

Why do health and health care disparities matter? Addressing disparities in health and health care is important not only from an equity standpoint, but also for improving health more broadly by achieving improvements in overall quality of care and population health. Moreover, health disparities are costly.