Equity in the distribution of health care: the British debate

TL;DRAbstract

Abstract In 1978, I published an article in Economica on the distribution of public expenditure on health care in England and Wales (Le Grand 1978). The article compared the distribution of illness with the distribution of public expenditure and arrived at the conclusion that, once the distribution of illness was taken into account, the distribution of public spending favoured the higher social groups. In other words, contrary to its stated intentions, the British National Health Service (NHS) was not providing equity in at least one interpretation of that term, equal treatment for equal need. Rather, it was providing more treatment per person ill for the better-off.

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper