Equity in health: the importance of different health streams.

ABSTRACT

This paper develops a conceptual framework in which preferences about the distribution of future health gains depend on differences in four 'health streams'. These are as follows (1) the amount of health to be gained; (2) the no-treatment profiles; (3) the amount of health experienced thus far and (4) the amount of health gained previously as a result of public health interventions. This classification puts the well-established concerns for severity (stream 2) and age weights (stream 3) into a more complete analytical framework. Stream 4 has not been discussed to date and the paper suggests some moral arguments about the distributive relevance of this stream of health.