Health care's ills: A Catholic diagnosis

Catholic teaching is emphatic on the need to "guarantee adequate [health] care to all," as Pope Benedict XVI has stated. America has been slower than other advanced countries in progressing towards this goal. Reasons for this delay can be found in certain attitudes that have long been present in American culture, and have been reinforced by the wave of libertarianism (free-market ideology) that swept the world in the late twentieth century. Catholic theology and social/economic teaching can help us understand the flaws in these attitudes, which involve fundamental philosophical and theological principles, but which are far from academic, since they have serious and very practical consequences. In the light of Catholic teaching, we can look towards a sounder understanding of healthcare needs and effective ways of meeting them. This article argues that access to healthcare, at least up to the level of basic necessity, falls under the heading of distributive justice. It is a human right owed by the community to each of its citizens. And since rights entail obligations, this right entails an obligation upon each citizen to contribute, as circumstances permit, to the costs, which need to be shared equitably; they cannot be met simply by each individual providing solely for oneself. Also discussed are the problems of excessive costs in healthcare administration and in pharmacological research, as well as harmful tendencies in private-sector firms to over-reward top management and to target maximum (rather than adequate) profits.