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What Care Is'Essential'? What Services Are'Basic'?

What Care Is'Essential'? What Services Are'Basic'? THE CONCEPT is very appealing. It postulates that there is a minimum set of services to which everyone should have access, regardless of ability to pay. This set of services would form a floor for insurance policies, health plans, and government programs. People who want to receive more services could purchase them, either by buying more comprehensive (and expensive) insurance policies or plans, or by paying out-of-pocket. But everyone would at least receive this basic level of care. In the concept of essential care we find a compromise between the idealistic view that Society should provide every-one with everything free of charge, and the practical fact that, as a society, we cannot pay the price of doing that. It strikes an ethical balance between Society's obligation to the individual and the individual's obligation to Society. The concept is indeed appealing. Unfortunately, putting the concept into practice is far more difficult. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

What Care Is'Essential'? What Services Are'Basic'?

JAMA , Volume 265 (6) – Feb 13, 1991

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References (3)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. Applicable FARS/DFARS Restrictions Apply to Government Use.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.1991.03460060114036
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE CONCEPT is very appealing. It postulates that there is a minimum set of services to which everyone should have access, regardless of ability to pay. This set of services would form a floor for insurance policies, health plans, and government programs. People who want to receive more services could purchase them, either by buying more comprehensive (and expensive) insurance policies or plans, or by paying out-of-pocket. But everyone would at least receive this basic level of care. In the concept of essential care we find a compromise between the idealistic view that Society should provide every-one with everything free of charge, and the practical fact that, as a society, we cannot pay the price of doing that. It strikes an ethical balance between Society's obligation to the individual and the individual's obligation to Society. The concept is indeed appealing. Unfortunately, putting the concept into practice is far more difficult.

Journal

JAMAAmerican Medical Association

Published: Feb 13, 1991

There are no references for this article.