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https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.46.2021.1.59-84
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Targeting "Lifestyle" Conditions: What Justifications for Treatment?
Das Targeting von "Lifestyle"-Bedingungen: Welche Rechtfertigungen für die Behandlung?
[journal article]
Abstract Patients suffering from "lifestyle" conditions are most often viewed as responsible for their illness, and so not considered to be a priority for healthcare resources. Instead, their treatment is financed on instrumental grounds: it is better to treat the condition now than to incur higher costs lat... view more
Patients suffering from "lifestyle" conditions are most often viewed as responsible for their illness, and so not considered to be a priority for healthcare resources. Instead, their treatment is financed on instrumental grounds: it is better to treat the condition now than to incur higher costs later of not doing so. An alternative register of justification at work in public healthcare policies is not motivated by instrumental considerations. Instead, it seeks to articulate an ethical case for prioritizing lifestyle conditions. Within this framework, we draw on the notion of vital need within the tradition of humanistic philosophy to argue that solidarity justifies the treatment of such conditions, exemplified here by obesity. We use the theoretical framework of economics of convention to present these two registers of justification at work in public healthcare policies. The importance of humanistic criticism prevents instrumental logic from being completely dominant.... view less
Keywords
health behavior; health care; health policy; legitimation; public health; self-responsibility
Classification
Health Policy
Medical Sociology
Free Keywords
Economics of convention; orders of worth; obesity; vital need; targeting; healthcare policies; lifestyle conditions
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 59-84
Journal
Historical Social Research, 46 (2021) 1
Issue topic
Conventions, Health and Society - Convention Theory as an Institutionalist Approach to the Political Economy of Health
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed