The first question is how do you define social status? Is it defined by how much money you make and who you know, location, or is this defined by citizenship?
As the fears of a pandemic flu, TB, and other infectious agents have swept the news - we must understand that global health is just that, global. Regardless of social status or prosperity, there are certain basic threats to humanity that need to be addressed on a global scale.
Medicine and procedures cost money. As a matter of practicality, elective procedures will likely only be available to the "haves". Though, you then get into what is elective. Are cleft palate procedures elective? Purely cosmetic jobs might certainly fall into that category. Cleft palate issues can affect long term health and speech.
There is also an unspoken question - who will pay for everybody else's health care? I have read with interest, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book details the work of Paul Farmer, who has made "impossible" health care achievements in one of the poorest countries on the planet, Haiti. He has done it through his own belief in the sacred worth of those that are afflicted by pain and sickness. He has done it through networking with agencies and building a renewable infrastructure of education and local empowerment. Achieving health care for more than select populations comes to a matter of will. If there is a will to achieve certain levels of global health, then it can be achieved. We've seen this by the eradication of diseases such as Polio etc. Though, as we've also seen, if these measures aren't followed through - the diseases will crop up again.
The ultimate answer to having better global health lies in finding solutions for poverty. There are great programs like Heiffer International and mini-loan programs that help move a family from dependency into independence. Having clean sources of water, basic sanitation, and education also increase global health.
My answer to the question above is that social status will influence access to medical treatment, that is the reality of economics. What we need to worry about is the impact of infectious disease and how the state of global health affects populations and ultimately ourselves. It is easy to be insular, but we live in a global community. If not for ethical and humanitarian reasons, then we must look to the safety of our nation's health by looking at the issue beyond "haves" and "have nots".
Good write. It always seems that surgeries that are needed to save lives, cost a pretty penny. I saw on the news not to long ago a person that works at Safeway and has a tumor coevering half of his face. He can only see out of the one eye that is available to him . His customers at the grocery store love him so much that they started a donation website for getting the tumor surgically removed from his face. This is what I don't get. It cost so much to fix needed problems. 9 times out of ten , the people that have a medical problem that needs to be fixed , are poor. They try to put the medical need through their insurance. Eitheir they will cover some of it or none of it. But a rich person is so worried about getting their nose fixed so there is no bump remaining on their nose. Its just sad I tell you.
What insurance covers varies widely. I don't know the answer to our health care crisis, but there definitely should be more consistency on basic levels of coverage. Poverty does definitely affect one's ability to have coverage. Children in poverty receive some state or federal coverage, but your average gas clerk can't afford it.