Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy [Paperback]

In bioethics, discussions of justice have tended to focus on questions of fairness in access to health care: is there a right to medical treatment, and how should priorities be set when medical resources are scarce. But health care is only one of many factors that determine the extent to which people live healthy lives, and fairness is not the only consideration in determining whether a health policy is just. In this pathbreaking book, senior bioethicists Powers and Faden confront foundational issues about health and justice. How much inequality in health can a just society tolerate. The audience for the book is scholars and students of bioethics and moral and political philosophy, as well as anyone interested in public health and health policy.In bioethics, discussions of justice have tended to focus on questions of fairness in access to health care: is there a right to medical treatment, and how should priorities be set when medical resources are scarce. But health care is only one of many factors that determine the extent to which people live healthy lives, and fairness is not the only consideration in determining whether a health policy is just. In this pathbreaking book, senior bioethicists Powers and Faden confront foundational issues about health and justice.Chapter 1: The Job of Justice1.1 Which Inequalities Matter Most1.2 Justice and Well-Being1.3 Justice, Sufficiency, and Systematic Disadvantage1.4 Foundations of Public Health1.5 Medical Care and Insurance Markets1.6 Setting Priorities1.7 Justice, Democracy, and Social ValuesChapter 22.1 Introduction2.2 Essential Dimensions of Well-Being2.3 A Moderate Essentialism2.4 Well-Being and Nonideal Theory2.5 The Main Alternatives2.6 Capabilities, Functioning, and Well-Being2.7 Relativism, Moral Imperialism, and Political Neutrality2.8 Justice and Basic Human RightsChapter 3: Justice, Sufficiency, and Systematic Disadvantage3.1 Varieties of Egalitarianism3.2 The Lelð