Introduction : what’s wrong with health inequalities?

Essays in this book address a wide range of ethical issues that bear on health inequalities. This introduction identifies these issues and discusses them in relation to broader notions of distributive justice, fairness, choice, and welfare. Since health has many determinants, these essays focus on inequalities in health rather than only on disparities in access to health services. The aim of this chapter is not to summarize or repeat the arguments examined in this book, but rather to ask the right questions and stimulate interest in these crucial issues about how we organize our societies, how we live and die, and how health is distributed by nature and by us. The introduction is organized around five key topics, including: concepts and measures of health inequality; what inequalities in health that matter, as seen from different normative perspectives; how to understand inequalities between individuals and between groups; inequality and discrimination; and how egalitarian theories deal with uncertainty