Responsibility in health care : a liberal egalitarian approach

Abstract

Lifestyle diseases constitute an increasing portion of health problems and this trend is likely to continue. A better understanding of the responsibility argument is important for the assessment of policies aimed at meeting challenge. Holding individuals accountable for their choices in the context of health care is, however, controversial. There are powerful arguments both for and against such policies. In this article we shall briefly outline the main arguments for and the traditional arguments against the use of individual responsibility as a criterion for the distribution of scarce health resources. We argue that one of the most prominent contemporary normative traditions, liberal egalitarianism, presents one way to hold individuals accountable for their choices that avoids most of the problems pointed out by the critics. The aim of the article is to propose a plausible interpretation of liberal egalitarianism with respect to responsibility and health care and assess it against reasonable counter-arguments.