This article aims at presenting to the Polish reader a number of different conceptions of justice in health care, represented by the advocates of liberal egalitarianism. The author has given an overview of the most relevant, influential and representative theories, held by the liberal egalitarians, in order to present the way in which, in a democratic state, both just health care and respect for freedom and moral equality of individuals can be provided. The following issues will be discussed: John Rawls’s (...) theory of justice, Norman Daniels’s theory of justice including health possibilities, varieties of luck egalitarianism, Ronald Dworkin’s “prudent insurance” ideal, Elizabeth Anderson’s democratic egalitarianism, a family of theories of egalitarianism of all kinds of luck and the theory of Shlomi Segall. (shrink)

The results of empirical research show that people prefer to help identified individuals rather than unidentified ones. This preference has an important influence on many private and public decisions, for example concerning vaccination or the distribution of healthcare resources. The aim of this article is to define the terms: “identified”, “unidentified”, “statistical”, and then to analyze three philosophical arguments concerning the normative implications of this preference: 1) contractualism ex ante ; 2) fair distribution of chances and risks; 3) principles regarding (...) the concentration of good effects and the distribution of bad effects. I will demonstrate that these arguments, which are related to interesting philosophical problems, such as counterfactuals, are not convincing. (shrink)

Solidarity is the fundamental principle of the majority of the European health care systems. According to the classical distinction, there are three kinds of solidarity: risk solidarity, age solidarity and income solidarity. The aim of this principle is to create a community based on risk sharing, mutual obligation and care, taken especially of the suffering, the troubled and the disadvantaged. The progressive privatization of health care and the individualization of risk in health insurance motivate the question about the sustainability of (...) this principle in many European health care systems. Concurrently, technological progress change the outlook of modern medicine and health care, inspiring the revival of the debate on the role of solidarity in health care systems and new struggles for this principle. Discussions of ethical issues, social activism and the implementation of new legislative solutions stress the importance and the unchanging value of solidarity in varying social conditions. (shrink)