Question Is there anything morally problematic about health inequalities which correlate to inequalities in social-economic status? If so, what, if anything, should be done? How can our "modern ideals" (health care system - NHS) be applied to the teachings of Rawls and Nozick?

Accepted:
May 11, 2006

Comments

If there are moral problems with inequalities in general, then they should apply to health issues also. If there are not such moral problems, then they need not. That is, if we allow inequalities to exist then we should not be surprised or even shocked that they exist in health care also, indeed we should expect this. Poorer people tend to be less capable at acquiring public health resources, and have often adopted unhealthy life styles for reasons connected with their poverty, and so any general attack on social inequality should work towards improvement in general health levels among the deprived sector of society. But this is only if you value equality, it might well be that those thinkers who do not would see it as perfectly acceptable for such inequalities to persist given the general desirability of inequality as a social phenomenon.

Question Is there anything morally problematic about health inequalities which correlate to inequalities in social-economic status? If so, what, if anything, should be done? How can our "modern ideals" (health care system - NHS) be applied to the teachings of Rawls and Nozick? Accepted:May 11, 2006