Question

Scenario 3 The cashier?s office of Archway Memorial Hospital is, even for the wealthy and best educated, a place of frustration. Bills are presented in the form of long computer printouts, covered with unfamiliar names referring to supplies, medical treatment, and diagnostic tests. Associated with each item is a price that seem absurdly high. For someone without medical insurance, being faced with such a bill is more than confusing?it?s frightening. And that was just the situation that Marvin Baldesi found himself in. ?Your age make you ineligible for Medicare,? said Ms. Kearney, the Archway billing officer. ?And you say you aren?t covered by a private insurance plan?? ?That?s right,? said Mr. Baldesi. ?I own my own business. My wife and me, we run a small upholstery shop. We decided we couldn?t afford to keep up our insurance.? ? Normally, we wouldn?t have admitted you,? said Ms. Kearney. ?It?s only because you came in as an acute emergency that you were allowed to run up such a bill.? She paused. ?You?re going to need some follow-up treatments, too.? Mr. Baldesi looked down to keep from meeting Ms. Kearney?s eyes. He felt embarrassed. He had always paid his bills, and now this woman didn?t bother to disguise the fact that she saw him as a deadbeat. ?Do you have any savings?? Ms. Kearny asked. ?About fifty dollars. Just enough to keep the account open.: ?Then it looks to me like you?ve only got two choices,? Ms. Kearney said. ?You?ve got to borrow the money or declare yourself bankrupt. If you do that, once you?ve exhausted your assets, you?ll be eligible for Medicaid.? ?But the bill is almost fifty thousand dollars,? Mr. Baldesi said. ?I can?t borrow money like that. My family and friends don?t have it, and no bank would loan it to me without collateral.? ?Then you?ll have to get a lawyer and declare bankruptcy.? ?But I?ll lose my business. My credit will be ruined, and I won?t be able to get the materials I need from suppliers. Isn?t there any other way?" "I don't know any," said Ms. Kearney. "But that's not really my problem. But Archway has to be paid. You received our services, and we have to have the money for them." Is a Medicaid program that forces individuals to pauperize themselves and declare bankruptcy in order to qualify for Medicaid a morally correct policy? How would someone respond to this question using the ethical principles of: RAWSIAN?

Answer 1

No a Medicaid program that forces individuals to pauperize themselves and declare bankruptcy in order to qualify for Medicaid is not morally correct .

According to the two principles of justice that Rawls believes people would choose in the original position:-

First: Each person has equal rights

Second: Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both reasonably expected to everyone's advantage and attached to positions and offices open to all, again forcing an individual to declare himself bankruptcy is immoral and against justice . Everyone in this democratic republic has the right to treatment without any discrimination on the basis of,caste, socioeconomic status , colour etc.