this article discusses what ethicists have called “unacceptable trade-offs” in health policy choices related to universal health coverage (uhc). since the fiscal space is constrained, trade-offs need to be made. but some trade-offs are unacceptable on the path to universal coverage. unacceptable choices include, among other examples from low-income countries, to expand coverage for services wit...

Body height and mass were determined in girls aged 10.5-18.5 years in three periods: 1977 (n = 1028), 1987 (n = 1255) and in 1997 (n = 1992). The families of those girls were classified into three categories: farmers, farmer-workers and non-farmers. The economical crisis affected predominantly the rural non-farmer population while farmers were most independent from food rationing. After the cha...

Health care rationing has always been seen as a wicked problem, somehow special and not subject to the same rules of engagement as other policy areas. The article by Philip Sax makes a strong contribution by placing one prominent part of rationing, determination of a national drug formulary, into the larger political economy context of Israeli policy making. While one can argue with some of Sax...

Introduction: what’s the speed limit? In 1973, the then United States President, Jimmy Carter, addressed the issue of declining petroleum resources and increasing automobile traffic by the institution of a rationing plan that mandated decreasing consumption fairly and equitably across the entire population of consumers. The national speed limit (NSL) decreased from 70 to 55 miles per hour, and,...