Unfair Health Inequality

Some factors leading to health inequalities point to unfairness (e.g., socioeconomic status, race, and access to health care); others may reflect individual responsibility (e.g., lifestyle) and may, therefore, offer less reason for concern. A coherent framework is presented to integrate these different aspects in the measurement of unfair health inequality. Socioeconomic inequalities are a special case within this more general approach. It is also argued that information about unfair health inequality is insufficient to evaluate the overall fairness of society. If we want to come to a global judgment, we need an overall measure of well-being that makes it possible to operationalize the trade-offs among health, income, and other relevant dimensions of life.