[Ethical aspects of health care economy]

One of the present-day problems which illustrates several ethical issues is the development of health care, generally referred to as health policy. For over 25 years there has been a debate relating to runaway costs in health care. This led to various retrenchment attempts which failed altogether and will probably continue to fail in the future unless there is a radical change in approaching the subject. Brief explanations regarding the economies of public health care will show that by means of this science statements concerning the consequences as regards costs and efficiency can be made, but the material organisation of a health care system remains somewhat vague. The same applies to ethics as a science. To be able to explain how a health care system can be organised, one has to take a stand based on the system of values relevant to the particular individual. Yet the question is not, whether a certain concept is right or good, but rather to what extent it is plausible. It can be illustrated that the case against restricting health services cannot be justified. Following this there will be a discussion as to who is actually authorized to enforce such restrictions in a society with competing value systems, and which criteria can be applied. Finally the author will try to conceptualize the situation, taking a stand based upon his own views and beliefs.