Access to the American Health Care System: Biblical, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on Justice

Abstract

The issue of access to the American health care system seems destined to reappear in the 2024 presidential election. The political and economic debates regarding single-payer systems providing (near) universal health care are well documented. Supporters of the status quo, knowingly or unknowingly, rest their argument on the basic assumptions of utilitarianism. In response patrons investigating inequalities in access to the American health care system can turn to biblical, philosophical, and theological reflections on justice.

Keywords:

• Health care
• health care access
• health care disparities
• health care system
• utilitarianism
• social justice
• Hebrew Bible
• New Testament
• John Rawls
• Martin Walzer
• Reinold Niebuhr
• Paul Tillich

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).