In an admirably comprehensive and in-depth book, Mary J. McDonough shows how the Catholic insistence on a right to basic health care can be put into practice in a system that is universal, affordable, and sustainable. McDonough convincingly argues that such a system requires both a systematic organization involving the role of government together with some market mechanisms to control costs and a value approach to the meaning of health that sees it as a means and not an end.

McDonough's Can A Health Care Market Be Moral? is a very helpful and critical contribution to the growing analysis of justice and fairness in health care ethics. She provides an excellent review of perspectives of Roman Catholic social justice in relation to understandings of various market models and models of health and health care. McDonough provides an excellent proposal for thinking through how a health care market can be moral. Her book is a welcome addition to a developing field and will help set the direction for future discussions.

This book is a valuable steppingstone from moral calls for health care reform to concrete policy proposals. It will help those informed by Catholic social teaching to think more clearly about this complex and challenging issue.

Catholic social teaching on capitalism and healthcare is the point of departure for this philosophical and theological analysis of models for funding and distributing health care. In clear and accessible writing, McDonough walks us through complex economic theories and models of health care distribution as she tests how well the market organization approaches of Friedman, Herzlinger, Pauly, and Enthoven and the value dimension approach of Callahan satisfy the ethical criteria found in Catholic social teaching. This will be a welcomed book for anyone who believes that the Catholic theological tradition can make a significant contribution to this major issue at the intersection of social ethics, economics, and health care.

"This book is a valuable steppingstone from moral calls for health care reform to concrete policy proposals. It will help those informed by Catholic social teaching to think more clearly about this complex and challenging issue." -- Lisa Cahill, Boston College

"In an admirably comprehensive and in-depth book, Mary J. McDonough shows how the Catholic insistence on a right to basic health care can be put into practice in a system that is universal, affordable, and sustainable. McDonough convincingly argues that such a system requires both a systematic organization involving the role of government together with some market mechanisms to control costs and a value approach to the meaning of health that sees it as a means and not an end." -- Charles E. Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values, Southern Methodist University

"McDonough's Can A Health Care Market Be Moral? is a very helpful and critical contribution to the growing analysis of justice and fairness in health care ethics. She provides an excellent review of perspectives of Roman Catholic social justice in relation to understandings of various market models and models of health and health care. McDonough provides an excellent proposal for thinking through how a health care market can be moral. Her book is a welcome addition to a developing field and will help set the direction for future discussions." -- Thomas A. Shannon, professor emeritus of religion and social ethics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

"Catholic social teaching on capitalism and healthcare is the point of departure for this philosophical and theological analysis of models for funding and distributing health care. In clear and accessible writing, McDonough walks us through complex economic theories and models of health care distribution as she tests how well the market organization approaches of Friedman, Herzlinger, Pauly, and Enthoven and the value dimension approach of Callahan satisfy the ethical criteria found in Catholic social teaching. This will be a welcomed book for anyone who believes that the Catholic theological tradition can make a significant contribution to this major issue at the intersection of social ethics, economics, and health care." -- Richard M. Gula, SS, professor of moral theology, Franciscan School of Theology/Graduate Theological Union

In an admirably comprehensive and in-depth book, Mary J. McDonough shows how the Catholic insistence on a right to basic health care can be put into practice in a system that is universal, affordable, and sustainable. McDonough convincingly argues that such a system requires both a systematic organization involving the role of government together with some market mechanisms to control costs and a value approach to the meaning of health that sees it as a means and not an end.