Universal Health Care and the Economics of Responsibility

Dell P. Champlin and Janet T. Knoedler

Journal of Economic Issues, 2008, vol. 42, issue 4, 913-938

Abstract: In the American health care system the cost of health insurance is underwritten by all three sectors of the economy: 1) households; 2) employers; and 3) government. However, while costs are shared, responsibility is not. The retreat of private firms and government from assuming a substantial share of the burden of health care costs is based on the presumption that health care is an individual’s responsibility, while the contributions of government and the private sector are basically optional - a matter of benevolence rather than responsibility. The outcome of the current debates over health care reform will depend on this issue of responsibility. Who should pay for health care? Is it a collective responsibility or an individual one? In this paper, we explore the economics of responsibility as it applies to health care. In the institutionalist framework, any reallocation of costs must be driven by an underlying philosophy of shared responsibility.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00213624.2008.11507196 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:42:y:2008:i:4:p:913-938

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/MJEI20

DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2008.11507196

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Economic Issues from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().