A brief foray into the idea of "social justice"

Social justice means...what exactly? The short answer is "nothing in particular."

It is a term hijacked by various groups to demonstrate that their particular political ideology is the one that is the most "just" or, similarly but not exactly, "lacking injustice". For instance, leftists in the United States will tell you that if poor people do not have equal access to quality health care as a rich person (a term often used disparagingly), that demonstrates a lack of social justice that needs to be changed, usually through increased taxes for all or some income-earning people and increased government intervention.

It should not matter that, perhaps, poor personal choices (eg. having children while not married, a known risk factor for poverty, drug use, alcohol abuse, laziness, not finishing school to be in a gang instead) have contributed to one's status in society. For health care, this should not matter; this is just.

However, this idea is only 100% beneficial to the non-working poor with no disposable income who get what a hard-working executive gets for no money and no time spent on the job. Everyone else has to give something up and this is usually speed of service (American wait times for elective procedures and procedures, such as MRIs, are quite low compared to "just" socialist countries), quality of life (having to suffer otherwise needless pain or disability during this wait), ability to negotiate a contract for the amount one should pay for health care (eg. choice in insurance plans or benefits packages at work), along with additional tax money. As health care workers, there would be more rigidity in reimbursement for services; salary increases would be met with political discussion rather than discussion of individual achievements and need for more people in the profession. You'd have Margaret Thatcher or her equivalent telling nurses that a "good nurse" goes into nursing not for the money but for charity as it is proposed that nursing salaries should be cut to help with the cost crisis in health care rather than another raise in taxes to have more nurses.

Graham will say "oh, but 'single payer' doesn't mean government control over salaries of nurses and physicians---they don't own the hospitals!" Someone tell me how if the government is the one collecting and paying all the money for health care that salaries would not be affected. Whether it is a government mandate or not, salaries or staffing or desire to specialize will be adjusted by government reimbursement rates.

You seeing a theme here? Yes, with "social justice" with respect to health care, or most anything else in the way the liberals mean it, comes more government power and less power of the individual over their health care or personal affairs. Is this just?

As Thomas Sowell said:

Lofty talk about "social justice" or "fairness" boils down to greatly expanded powers for politicians, since those pretty words have no concrete definition. They are a blank check for creating disparities in power that dwarf disparities in income -- and are far more dangerous.