SOCY

Australian health care system, health for all, or health for wealth?

It is said, “The development of society, rich or poor, can be judged by the quality of its population's health, how fairly health is distributed across the social spectrum, and the degree of protection provided from disadvantage due to ill-health.” Marmot 2007
As Australians we widely consider ourselves to live in the lucky country, where we enjoy such freedoms as, choice, speech and access to the essentials for survival, such as food, water, and in theory medical and healthcare. Australia as a country exhibits many characteristics of a country with great wealth, despite this there continues to be a disparity in the matter of equitability in health care.

This in equitability of access to health care is shown through members of the Australian community, experiencing disparities, in regards to social factors such as, the region you live, the culture of which you identify as, or the economic status one fits. It is strongly now believed and reported in literature such as , Marmot 2007, Atkinson 2004 and Gwatkin, Bhuiya and Victora 2004, that such factors bears more influence on this matter than one would think.

(Atkinson 2004) explains two theories of social equitability, such being, horizontal, and vertical theories on equality.
Atkinson 2004 explains this to be the “different ways of Conceiving of equity. For example, horizontal equity is about the equal treatment of equals” in which people of the same economic status race or geological region should be entitled to the same standard of care, in respect to that of people in the same category. “While vertical equity is about the unequal but equitable treatment of unequals.” (Atkinson 2004)

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...art conditions, which pose great risks to members of such an ethnicity.

How to make the NHS more equitable

In an effort to make health more equitable, Adler et al. 1994 identified that a range of variables should be identified such as “health behaviours, Psychological factors, and perceptions of social ordering.” Adler et al. should be target to minimise the effect of socio economic status on health.

Health behaviours should be considered in that targeting a socio economics prevalence for a health related behaviour such as smoking and targeting such behaviour prior to health issues such as lung cancer gang green or so on, coming into play, in turn making health for all more equitable, with equal health outcomes a matter of efficiency in treating health concerns, in working to eliminate concerns completely prior to this becoming a burden on the health system.