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Re-asserting the Specialness of Health Care

Rumbold, Benedict

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Abstract

Is health care “special”? That is, do we have moral reason to treat health care differently from how we treat other sorts of social goods? Intuitively, perhaps, we might think the proper response is “yes.” However, to date, philosophers have often struggled to justify this idea—known as the “specialness thesis about health care” or STHC. In this article, I offer a new justification of STHC, one I take to be immune from objections that have undercut other defenses. Notably, unlike previous utility- and opportunity-based theories, I argue that we can find normative justification for STHC in what I term our special duty to assist those unable to help themselves. It is this duty, I argue, that ultimately gives us reason to treat health care differently from other sorts of goods (even other goods meeting health needs) and to distribute it independently of individuals’ ability to pay.

Citation

Rumbold, B. (2021). Re-asserting the Specialness of Health Care. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 46(3), 272-296. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhab006

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 1, 2018
Online Publication Date Jun 9, 2021
Publication Date Jun 1, 2021
Deposit Date Aug 16, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (United Kingdom)
Print ISSN 0360-5310
Electronic ISSN 1744-5019
Publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 3
Pages 272-296
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhab006
Keywords Philosophy; General Medicine; Issues, ethics and legal aspects
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/6053881
Publisher URL https://academic.oup.com/jmp/article/46/3/272/6295414

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