Abstract
Many hold that distributing healthcare according to medical need is a requirement of equality. Most egalitarians believe, however, that people ought to be equal on the whole, by some overall measure of well-being or life-prospects; it would be a massive coincidence if distributing healthcare according to medical need turned out to be an effective way of promoting equality overall. I argue that distributing healthcare according to medical need is important for reducing individuals' uncertainty surrounding their future medical needs. In other words, distributing healthcare according to medical need is a natural feature of healthcare insurance; it is about indemnity, not equality.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 588-596 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Bioethics |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1 2016 |
Keywords
- distributive justice
- equality
- health insurance
- healthcare
- medical necessity
- medical need
- political philosophy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Philosophy
- Health Policy