The individualization in the right to health care: exploring an analytic insight

Abstract

This is an essay paper that aims at strengthening arguments presented elsewhere with regard to the ideological reconfiguration of health policies. From an analytical standpoint, it is discussed the extent to which the context of liberalization and growing dependency on for-profit private investments is leading to more individualized health care rights while discussing its implications for the definition of public policies in the context of neoliberalism. Individualized health care rights suggest different ethics and moral principles from those consolidated in the late 20th century among Western countries, as users are increasingly becoming more accountable to finance individually their access to health care besides other financing sources, either taxes or health insurance. Not only unequal conditions to access health care arise from this change, as the rational choice theory underpinning such reconfiguration in health policies remains a managerialist belief yet to be proven regarding its conceptual accuracy. This discussion is illustrated based on some OECD indicators, which highlight divergent patterns among countries with respect to the individualization of health rights.