?konomisierung von Krankenhaust?tigkeit ?C Chancen, Grenzen und Risiken einer marktorientierten Medizin

Definition of the problem In the discussion of economizing health care, a crucial distinction of terms is often neglected. Arguments To determine where it is appropriate to refer to economization or economism in the negative sense, one has to distinguish between economy as a social sector and the econonomic dimension within all social sectors such as health care. It has to be clarified in which case economic goals should be pursued and in which case other objectives are to be pursued with the aid of economic means. Concerning the question regarding a market supervision of health care, one has to distinguish between the commodity health and health commodities as well as between public, private, and merit goods. In addition, the question regarding a market supervision of health care has to be distinguished from the question regarding the adoption of free-market instruments to enable the regulation of the handling of certain health commodities by the government. Conclusion These distinctions enable an appropriate evaluation of the complex business of ethical questions beyond anti-business or economistic, anti-market or radically free-market ideologies.