Difference between Market Justice and Social Justice

Respond to discussion

Include citations/Use in text citation where needed

All sources must be 5 years old or newer

Only needs to be about a paragraph long

More like a discussion rather than a paper

Please add to the discussion in your peer responses with informative responses, instead of posts similar to “great idea! I really agree with you.”

Each response needs to have a citation

 

 

POST 1(Judy)

Market justice and social justice complement each other within the United States health care system.  Market justice refers to medical care that is distributed solely on the individual’s ability to pay for such care.  It is a “free market” where individuals will pay for whatever health care services would benefit their health (“Foundations of U.S. Health,” 2015, p. 37).  Social justice refers to medical care that benefits the greater good of everyone. Responsibility for distribution of services relies solely on society as a whole. Distribution of goods, in most cases, is provided by the government (“Foundations of U.S. Health,” 2015, p. 38). In the U.S. market justice is prevalent with respect to private health and employer based health insurance. Social justice is prevalent through government funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, that provide health insurance to the elderly population and those that are eligible for Medicaid based on income requirements (“Foundations of U.S. Health,” 2015, p. 40).

An instance that I can recall a tension between market and social justice was many years ago when I worked as a pharmacy technician.  Medicaid recipients’ copays for medications can be anywhere from $0 up to $2. However, if a patient states that they are unable to pay the copay, by law, we are not able to deny them the medication.  This represents the social justice aspect of health care. Any other consumers, who purchase medications through private insurance, must be able to pay the copay or we do not provide the medication to them – market justice.  On one particular occasion, there was a customer, who was insured by Medicaid, that came to the drive through window to pick up their prescriptions. One of my coworkers was assisting the customer, who pulled up to the drive through in a Mercedes SUV. The copay for the medicine was $1.50.  The customer stated that she was unable to pay the copay and wished for us to waive the fee. My co-worker, became agitated, and asked the customer how she was able to afford the car she was driving and the gas it takes to fill the tank, but cannot afford her medication that is paid for by the government.  I have to admit that I understood his frustration, however, regardless of the opinion, it was outside of the rights of the patient to ask such a question.  In my opinion, it is situations such as this one that can create incredible tension between both aspects of the health care.

The nursing role in achieving social justice, in my opinion, is through the nurses’ focus on education, preventative health and community advocacy.  For example, diseases such as diabetes has become what may be considered an epidemic (“Week 9 Lesson,” 2020, p. 41).  To promote public education, a nurse can organize a free public health fair to educate the population about the disease as well as ways to prevent it. This demonstrates the nurses’ responsibility to advocate for the community as opposed to the individual.

References:

Foundations of U.S. healthcare delivery. (2015). Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from  http://samples.jbpub.com/9781284100556/Chapter2.pdf

Week 9 lesson: Social justice. (2020). Denver College of Nursing. Retrieved from  https://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/us/edaff/1323455930/nur370_lps/nur370_cdn_09_04_07.html

 

POST 2 (Tina)

Social Justice

Difference between Market Justice and Social Justice

                 Social justice focuses to treat people in the community in an equal manner. No matter people are rich and poor, social justice is for everyone. It ensures to provide justice equally regardless of status. Market Justice focuses on providing equal opportunity of participation to every person in exchanging possessions and services (Lee, 2016). Social justice is different from market justice in a way that social justice is related to equal treatment with people. In contrast, market justice is related to giving equal opportunities to people.

Situation and Tension between Market Justice and Social Justice

          There are numerous cases in which market justice and social justice does not implement in an appropriate way. For instance, patients in the US are provided with narcotic drugs and opioids to relieve the pain. It is observed that Hispanic and black patients are not able to get the same treatment to relieve pain. In contrast, opioid drugs to relieve pain are available for white patients in emergency rooms. Such type of case is opposing social justice. An example of a tension between market justice and social justice is that market justice is also not implemented in a proper way (Lee, 2016). The purchased plan and insurance programs are available only for limited people. For that reason, few people are able to live a better life as compared to others.

Nursing Role in Achieving Social Justice

Social justice is essential to make the community stable and vigorous. Nurses can serve the community in an effective way by providing care to everyone (Taylor, 2018). Without any discrimination, nurses can implement social justice by attending all the patients equally.

 

References

Lee, M. J. (2016). Between Social Justice and Market Justice: Ethics of Health Care Leadership.

Taylor, M. M. (2018). The Argument for Social Justice. In The Obesity Epidemic (pp. 39-51). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.