Health and healthcare as a human right

This chapter considers the recognition of health and healthcare as a constitutional right from a formal and substantial point of view. It includes methodological reviews and empirical findings of the economics and social effects of including health as a constitutional right. First, we explore the historical development of the human right to health, and the geographical propagation of a constitutional right to health from the late eighteenth century to now. We then move to an analysis of the difference between considering the right to health from an ethical or legal perspective and the ensuing intellectual debate, including the normative discussion of the respective roles of a country’s government. The following section discusses the economic and redistribution effects of including constitutional right to health and healthcare and provides a review of the empirical research on the economic effects of the inclusion. The following review explores both methodological and empirical issues related to the right to health and provides a summary of the main empirical finding from several recent studies on the topic.