Social justice and health care. A theoretical model.

Individual health care and the health care system are normally assessed in terms of efficiency, efficacy and cost-effectiveness, using empirical data regarding sickness profiles, hospital beds per population, cost per patient, etc. In this paper it is argued that assessment of health care in terms of the concepts of justice and injustice is both possible and necessary. A simple model is proposed to assess whether health care can be considered just or unjust in a specific context. The model uses the same data base as is normally used to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of health care systems.