Arguing that health care should be a human right rather than a commodity, the distinguished contributors to this volume call for a new social covenant establishing a right to a standard of health care consistent with society's level of resources. By linking rights with limits, they offer a framework for seeking national consensus on a cost-conscious standard of universal medical care. The authors identify the policy implications of recognizing and implementing such a right and develop specific criteria to measure the success of health care reform from a human rights perspective.
Health Care Reform also offers specific and timely criticism of managed competition and its offspring, the Clinton plan for health care reform. Because health care reform will inevitably be an ongoing process of assessment and revision—especially since managed competition has not been implemented elsewhere—this book will last beyond the moment by providing vital standards to guide the future evolution of the health care system.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Audrey R. Chapman
Part One: The Framework for Health Care Reform
The Right to Health Care and Health Care Reform
Janet O'Keeffe
The President's Commission on the Right to Health Care
Dan W. Brock
Part Two: Health Care as a Human Right
Defining the Right to Health Care
Virginia A. Leary
Egalitarian Justice and the Right to Health Care
Robert M. Veatch
International Human Rights and Health Care Reform
Jack Donnelly
Aligning Rights and Responsibilities
Larry R. Churchill
A Human Rights Approach to Health Care Reform
Audrey R. Chapman
Part Three: Defining a Basic Standard of Health Care
Defining the Decent Millennium
Mary Ann Baily
Public Participation and the Adequate Standard of Care
James Lindemann Nelson
Towards a Uniform Health Benefit Package
Janet Weiner
Oregon's Contribution to Defining Adequate Health Care
Michael J. Garland
Indicators for Monitoring Access to Basic Health Care as a Human Right
Thomas B. Jabine
Part Four: Managed Competition and the Future of Health Care in the United States
Privatization and Human Rights in Health Care
Daniel Wikler
Assessing the Clinton Administration's Health Security Act
Audrey R. Chapman
Policy Recommendations for Health Care Reform
Audrey R. Chapman
