Health Care Need, Economics and Social Justice

Abstract
Need has persisted as a central concept in health policy debate. Despite confusion over its meaning and derivation it seems to summarise a belief by many policy makers that the concerns of health policy go beyond the merely economic. Economists, on their side, frequently stop at the borders of economics, leaving the concept of need to others, preferring where possible the concepts of demand and supply. This state of affairs increases the risk that the relationship of health care need to economic theory will not be well understood by policy makers, and that economists will misunderstand why their policy advice, when given, is so frequently ignored.

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