PHIL 2390H Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Utilization Management, Negative Liberty
26 Jun 2018
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Chapter 7 Access to Health Care
-Allocation: the distribution of funding and resources among alternative possibilities for
their use.
-Macro allocation: decisions made at the federal or provincial government level about
distribution of resources among services such as health care, education, etc.
-Mesoallocation: decisions made at the regional level about the distribution of resources
among particular health care facilities or within those facilities among particular units.
-Micro allocation: decisions made by particular institutions or HCPs concerning the
distribution of available resources among individual patients.
Guided Readings:
-What are the different levels of allocation outlined in the introduction to the chapter?
-If you think that you have a right to publicly funded health care, what levels of allocation
are affected by that right?
The Right to a Decent Minimum of Health Care
Allen E. Buchanan
Do we have a right to health care?
NO:
-Health is important, but the cost of health care, and the way in which we fund health care,
detracts from more ‘basic’ negative freedom based rights.
oAs a society, we need to protect people from harm (fire departments, police
services… more important than healthcare rights)
-We cannot sacrifice justice for beneficence
-Very few argue that we have no right, but for many this right is very limited
YES:
-The right to health care, is justified because without health we are unable to exercise
more negative freedom based rights.
-Basic health is a precondition human flourishing
-Justice and beneficence are inseparable
What is Buchanan arguing?
-The right to a decent minimum of health care must be justified but this is rarely done
-Many arguments for publically funded health care rely on this right… but do they need
to?
-Buchanan argues that we can justify publically funded healthcare without appealing to
this problematic right.
Buchanan’s arguments
-He appeals to three kinds of arguments which work together to justify a non voluntary
publically funded health care system
1. Arguments from Special Rights
2. Arguments from the Prevention of Harm
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Allocation: the distribution of funding and resources among alternative possibilities for their use. Macro allocation: decisions made at the federal or provincial government level about distribution of resources among services such as health care, education, etc. Mesoallocation: decisions made at the regional level about the distribution of resources among particular health care facilities or within those facilities among particular units. Micro allocation: decisions made by particular institutions or hcps concerning the distribution of available resources among individual patients. The right to a decent minimum of health care. Very few argue that we have no right, but for many this right is very limited. The right to health care, is justified because without health we are unable to exercise more negative freedom based rights. Basic health is a precondition human flourishing. The right to a decent minimum of health care must be justified but this is rarely done.
