Resources and justice: for an equity on an epidemiological basis of healthcare funding

Abstract

The rules for distributing public resources for healthcare among Italian Regions are the subject of heated discussions every year among the Regions themselves. The factors of convenience with respect to those of justice very often prevail in the discussion. To think about what the best solution would be, it would be necessary to deepen the theories of justice, from utilitarianism to contractualism, from liberalism to economic egalitarianism. In any case, it would be advisable for the political choice of the allotment criteria to be made "under the veil of ignorance", i.e., independently of pure convenience. The analysis of the current division shows that the factor that practically explains the totality of the differences is the average age of the regional populations, while it does not seem to be associated with both economic and epidemiological indicators.