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This paper aims to study the specific factors causing suburban-dwelling elderly American women to patronize different soup kitchens in Pennsylvania and investigate how non-profit and government agencies could better meet the needs of this food-insecure population, to fill a significant gap in the growing literature on food insecurity in high-income countries.

The authors conducted observational visits and structured interviews with over 200 patrons and staff of soup kitchens in two counties in the US state of Pennsylvania over visits spanning two years.

Elderly American women have very distinct soup kitchen needs and usage patters that differ from other patrons in eight key ways the authors identify. From these, the authors identify four central themes that food assistance reform in the US must address to improve the wellbeing of this subpopulation.

The authors find that significant structural changes of the US food relief system must be made to better meet the needs of food-insecure elderly American women.

Soup kitchens should begin to offer information about federal programs, group transportation and other resources tailored to elderly women at soup kitchens to significantly improve their wellbeing, and help relieve the burden born by US non-profit food assistance organizations.

No studies to date have focused on the soup kitchen use of this specific population, whose needs, living circumstances, attitudes toward charity and socioeconomic realities differ significantly from other subpopulations of soup kitchen patrons.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore and propose solutions to global economic inequities and disparities, with a particular focus on healthcare. This paper also aims to explore whether drastic reductions of inequality are justified in terms of conventional economic theory, and whether ending inequality can be viewed as ethical through certain lenses.

To seek the response to those questions, the paper uses Pareto optimality; Hicks–Kaldor model; Millian utilitarianism; the ethical theories developed by John Rawls in his 1971 work on ethics as well as his 1999 Law of People; and the capability approach developed by Noble Laureate economists Amartya Sen. As demonstrated, those equalizing works cannot support a policy that would advocate an end to global inequities. Those theories also propose no practical solutions for the end of those extreme inequities. Thus, the paper attempts to present other solutions.

This paper discusses two theories that are very helpful in supporting those without much wealth. Mohammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank and its provision of small free-interest loans to poor businesses (in particular women) in Bangladesh has been very successful. Another alternative advocating interest-free banking that was proposed by the proponents of binary economics is discussed.

The author believes the arguments used to support the theses of this paper be unique and novel.

The United States’ population is rapidly aging. As older people require more expensive medical and nursing attention, health-care/nursing costs keep rising, to the extent that they are not sustainable. As a result, the USA is faced with an ethical dilemma. While egalitarian ethical principles and the provisions of the American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics require the provision of medical/nursing care to everyone regardless of age, severity of disease and productivity, utilitarians view that as impossible. Assuming that provisions ANA’s codes of ethics are the same as ethical principles, this paper aims to discuss the debate between those two sides in detail.

The paper, viewing the rise of health-care/nursing costs as the cause of the above ethical dilemma, discusses Daniel Callahan’s utilitarian argument that, given the ever-rising health/nursing costs as a percentage of GDP, the USA will be forced to ration health care/nursing on the basis of age. The ethical arguments opposing Callahan’s arguments will also be presented.

While the debate between those two viewpoints is bond to continue, some writers have tried to find a compromise, a solution by assuming that, through efficiency, health/nursing costs can be lowered, making Callahan’s age-based rationing unnecessary.

This paper is original as it, by including nursing costs as an inseparable component of health-care costs, makes the aforementioned debate applicable to nursing care.

After discussing the high and rising health care costs in the USA, its disparities, and the suggested demand, supply, and managed competition‐side strategies to contain health care costs and their ethical implications, this paper seeks to explore whether or not these strategies will further aggravate the existing health care disparities.

This conceptual paper utilizes various appropriate exiting economic and ethical theories. The economic and ethical theories utilized are relevant to the problem of rising health care costs; to the proposed demand, supply, and managed competition‐side cost containment strategies; and to the existing health care disparities.

This paper demonstrates that the suggested cost containment strategies do in fact aggravate existing health care inequities and are not always ethical.

Given the present health care reform debate in the USA and various misconceptions about it, the author believes that the paper and its findings should in fact be viewed as a contribution.

As a result of the aging of American society, health care costs have been and will continue to rise, to the extent that they are not sustainable. Obviously, this trend will continue in spite of the 2010 health care reform. As a result of this uncontrollable problem, writers such as Daniel Callahan have proposed age‐based rationing of health care while utilizing the utilitarian notions of ethics and justice. However, other writers, utilizing more egalitarian notions of justice, have opposed this. This suggests an ethical dilemma, which has to be debated in the future. The author believes professors teaching health care related courses will be instrumental in this debate, explaining why she decided to seek the opinion of a sample of 18 professors regarding this issue. The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of this research.

Qualitative methodology, specially grounded theory, was used in this study that sought to explore the views of 18 full‐time professors who teach health care policy and administration in Northeast Pennsylvania about age‐based rationing of health care. Qualitative research is very useful uncovering the views of individuals as they relate to their experiences. In the study, professors were asked 14 questions by the author, four of these being demographic. The remaining ten questions, open ended ones, sought the opinions of these professors about their support or opposition to age‐based rationing.

The author's interviews of those 18 professors and the analysis of the responses, which revealed the complexity and multidimensional nature of the issue, led to the emergence of eight different themes.

The author used a qualitative method of research, interviewing 18 professors, to uncover personal views not previously published.