Between the Highest and the Attainable? Reflections on the Right to Health

Begin with a puzzle. Suppose we say that each individual human being has a right to health simply by virtue of being human. Suppose we also say that the basic principle of a good health care system is that comprehensive, high quality care should be available to all citizens on test of professionally judged medical need without financial barriers to access. In making these two statements, have we said the same thing in different ways or said two different things? It is this question I propose to discuss in this paper.