Since the 1970s health care costs in the United States have doubled, insurance premiums have far outpaced inflation, and the numbers of the uninsured and underinsured are increasing at an alarming rate. At the same time the public expects better health care and access to the latest treatment technologies. Governments, desperate to contain ballooning costs, often see a market-based approach to health care as the solution; critics of market systems argue that government regulation is necessary to secure accessible care for all.

The Catholic Church generally questions the market's ability to satisfy the many human needs intrinsic to any care delivery system yet, although the Church views health care as a basic human right, it has yet to offer strategies for how such a right can be guaranteed. Mary J. McDonough, a former Legal Aid lawyer for medical cases, understands the advantages and disadvantages of market-based care and offers insight and solutions in Can a Health Care Market Be Moral?

Drawing on Catholic social teachings from St. Augustine to Pope John Paul II, McDonough reviews health system successes and failures from around the world and assesses market approaches to health care as proposed by leading economists such as Milton Friedman, Regina Herzlinger, Mark Pauly, and Alain Enthoven. Balancing aspects of these proposals with Daniel Callahan's value-dimension approach, McDonough offers a Catholic vision of health care in the United States that allows for some market mechanisms while promoting justice and concern for the least advantaged.

Mary J. McDonough has worked as an advocate for Montana Legal Services and served as a member of the Montana State House of Representatives. She received her PhD from the Graduate Theological Union and has taught as an adjunct professor of ethics at Rocky Mountain College.

IntroductionJustice and the Catholic Church Capitalism, Health Care, and Catholic Social ThoughtEconomic Theory, Market Mechanisms, and Health CareTwo Approaches to Health CareCatholic Values and Health CarePlan of the BookNotes

Chapter 1Justice in Catholic Social Thought Augustine and AquinasThe Influence of Rerum novarumThe Contribution of Quadragesimo annoPius XII and Human Dignity Encyclicals of John XXIIIThe Second Vatican Council and Gaudium et spesThe Catholic Social Teaching of Paul VIThe U.S. Catholic Bishops and Economic Justice for All John Paul II: Culture and MercyConclusion: What is Justice?Notes

Chapter 2Catholic Social Thought on Capitalism and Health CareCapitalism and the Catholic ChurchCatholic Social Thought and Health CareConclusion: Justice, Capitalism, and Health CareNotes

Chapter 3Health Care Economic Theory, Market Mechanisms, and Health Outcomes A Short History of Medicine and the MarketTraditional Market Economic TheoryHealth Care Economics: The DebateMarket MechanismsVarious Countries' Responses to Market Mechanisms and Health OutcomesNotes

Chapter 4The Market Organization Approach to Health Care Milton Friedman: A Market Purist's Cure for Health CareRegina Herzlinger: Consumer-Driven Health CareMark Pauly: Responsible National Health InsuranceAlain Enthoven: Managed CompetitionSummary: The Market Organization ApproachNotes

Chapter 5The Value Dimension Approach to Health Care Daniel Callahan's Critique of the Health Care SystemCallahan's Finite Model of MedicineCatholic Social Thought and Callahan's Finite MedicineNotes

Chapter 6A Catholic Vision of Health Care Towards Universal Health CareThe Underlying Values of Health CareIntegrating Market MechanismsConclusion: Can A Health Care Market Be Moral?Notes

BibliographyIndex