Health care allocation, public consultation and the concept of 'health'.
By comparing models of market-based allocation with state-controlled national health care systems, it will be suggested that the way in which different communities deal with the allocation of health care is central to their expression of what might be called a moral self-understanding. That is to say that the provision of health care may be expected to be a focus of communal debate, not simply about morally acceptable and unacceptable actions, but also about the community's understanding of what it is that makes for a worthwhile and morally defensible human life. This moral self-understanding is seen to be entwined with the different concepts of 'health' that are implicit in different systems of allocation. In conclusion, it will be suggested that decisions concerning health care allocation must be made in response to a continuing, public and open debate about what health and health care mean to a particular community.
Edgar
A
A
University of Wales Cardiff, School of English, Communication and Philosophy, Cardiff, UK.
D001294:Attitude to Health; D032821:Commodification; D003256:Community Participation; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D003709:Democracy; D004465:Economic Competition; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012935:Social Justice; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology