Solidarity and justice in health care. (360G-Wellcome-104688_Z_14_Z)

This application is meant to support part of the research for my book titled Solidarity and Justice in health care to be published by Cambridge University Press. The purpose of the book is to analyse the relevance of the concept of solidarity for ethical and political discussions about access to health care and reform of health care systems. Recent developments, like the scarcity of resources, the introduction of market forces and the emphasis on individual private financial responsibility for h ealth care, are asking for a rethink of the concept of solidarity as a guiding moral principle for distributing healthcare. One of the main challenges that the book wants to address is how to reconcile the modern emphasis on individual choice with the conventional notion of solidarity emphasizing the perspective of the community. The book is meant to support the debate on the concept of solidarity in Europe and in countries where solidarity is a less familiar concept like the United Kingdom and the United States. The grant will be used for research at the Brocher Foundation and the Hastings Center to explore whether the concept of solidarity might still be relevant for the current ethical debate on health care reform.