Should we create a health care system in the United States?
An orthodoxy has arisen which claims that there is a crisis in the United States health care system such that the system needs to be reformed. This essay challenges that orthodoxy by showing that we do not have a health care system in the United States. We have a non-system of health care, just as we do for virtually all basic social institutions. Challenging the current orthodoxy surfaces two ethical issues that have been ignored: creating a health care system will (a) cause resurgent paternalism and (b) pose a threat to moral pluralism.
McCullough
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Center for Ethics, Medicine and Public Issues, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.
D026683:Advisory Committees; D026686:Beneficence; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D004989:Ethics; D035082:Federal Government; D033161:Government Regulation; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000592:standards*; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006801:Humans; D026706:Paternalism; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011634:Public Health; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States