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Health lnsurance: Ethical Considerations in Setting Risk-Differential Health Insurance Rates

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Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion

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Introduction

The term “prevention” has such benign connotations that, at first glance, it is hard to imagine that it could raise serious ethical concerns. But, generally speaking, disease prevention involves prescriptions about “healthy” and “unhealthy” activities – telling people what they should and should not do – and advising people about how they should lead their lives is central to the preoccupations of ethics: What is a good life? What obligations do citizens have as members of political communities? What rights do individuals have to pursue their own understanding of their best interests? What are the duties of the state for protecting the welfare of its citizens?

The policies and programs of national governments have direct and indirect, intended and unintended, effects on the health and well-being of citizens. The range of government affairs that touch on prevention is immense. Should the government require that people get vaccinated (to control the spread of infectious...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 306 Arnold House, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    David Buchanan

  2. Division of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy and the History of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 78B, 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden

    Mikael Dubois

Authors
  1. David Buchanan
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  2. Mikael Dubois
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Buchanan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, New London, CT, USA

    Thomas P. Gullotta

  2. University of Connecticut, West Hartford, USA

    Martin Bloom

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Buchanan, D., Dubois, M. (2014). Health lnsurance: Ethical Considerations in Setting Risk-Differential Health Insurance Rates. In: Gullotta, T.P., Bloom, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5999-6_75

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5999-6_75

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5998-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5999-6

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