Reaffirming Individual Responsibility in Distributive Justice: A Case Study of the Chinese Healthcare System

Abstract

The human rights-based approach is widely employed in achieving distributive justice in health care. In the light of a common understanding of the approach, protecting the right to health as a human right relies heavily on addressing state accountability. However, the corresponding measures are put forward unevenly on the national level and generally achieve less than expected. Deficiencies, such as inefficient utilization and the free-rider problem, are increasingly obvious along with the aging population. In the context of the Chinese healthcare system, the paper suggests that drawing attention to the importance of individual responsibility is beneficial to improve the performance of the human rights-based approach in reforming healthcare systems towards more justice. Furthermore, raising the issue of individual responsibility can help to achieve equilibrium between the protection of individual rights and the sustainability of the healthcare system.