Luck Egalitarianism. Analysis of Responsibility as a Criterion of Distribution of Resources in Healthcare

Abstract

In this paper I shall approach, from the luck egalitarianism perspective, to the problem of distributive justice in the health care. For that purpose I will follow an argumentative strategy based in some of the statements argued by Ronald Dworkin and Shlomi Segall on which the origin of luck egalitarianism relays. Even though it is truth that Rawls at the time of proposing the principle of fair equality of opportunities, he intended to mitigate the social inequalities originated by luck; for some egalitarian philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin, Rawls’ argument resulted inequitable since it did not consider the binomial liberty-responsibility. The consideration of responsibility as a criterion of distribution of healthcare resources will be tested and studied in three points. First of all I will expose the general aspects of luck egalitarianism and I will define the position of Daniels and Segall regarding healthcare assistance. In second term, I will go back to the distinction made by Dworkin between “brute luck” and “option luck” and I will expose his proposal about the resources equality and the healthcare model based on the ground of the liberty-responsibility binomial that he defends. In third place, I will analyze the relationship between liberty and responsibility in healthcare. This way I shall intend to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages that may arise from taking individual responsibility as a criterion for the distribution of resources.