Abstract

This chapter discusses the distribution of health care, an issue that has become particularly urgent and controversial in recent years because the median age of populations in most English-speaking countries age has risen, so more people need more extensive medical care. This is happening, though, just, as medical science produces new but often expensive interventions that people come to expect, and, as a result of these factors and others, health care costs have risen dramatically. The chapter considers the Jewish principles that might guide the discussion of who gets what in medical care, and who pays for it.