Morality, economics and life

A human life seems to have infinite value, and morality appears to demand that no effort be spared to preserve or to maintain it. Yet health care costs could destroy the economy if all available knowledge was applied to every person on the globe. There is no guaranteed solution, but this paper argues that we must look closely at the concepts of life and the person and understand the distinctions between the person as he or she really is (the “ontological person” in philosophical terms), the social person (the person who appears in the lives of others), and the psychological person (ourselves as we appear in our inner lives). If we are clear we can make decisions about how to pay for health care and how to manage it which will tend to keep costs under control and still respond to the dignity and worth of individuals touched by infinity.