Unexplained health inequality – is it unfair?

Table 1 Legitimate-illegitimate classification of variables according to the perspective of policy amenability

Variable	Legitimate vs. illegitimate classification
Demographics status
Age	Legitimate
Sex	Illegitimate
Marital status	Illegitimate
Race	Illegitimate
Country of birth	Illegitimate
Health behaviour
Smoker type and history	Illegitimate
BMI	Illegitimate
Frequency of physical activity	Illegitimate
Socioeconomic status
Household income	Illegitimate
Education	Illegitimate
Health care factors
Has regular medical doctor	Illegitimate
Unmet need	Illegitimate
High blood pressure management	Illegitimate
Asthma medication management	Illegitimate
Pharmaceutical insurance	Illegitimate
Health insurance type	Illegitimate

BMI: body mass index.
Variables are those we include in our analysis using the Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health (JCUSH).
“Policy amenability” argues that health inequality due to factors amenable to policy intervention is unfair [14].
A legitimate source of health inequality means that the variable is not amenable to policy, thus, resulting health inequality is ethically acceptable.
An illegitimate source of health inequality means that the variable is amenable to policy, thus, resulting health inequality is ethically unacceptable.

ISSN: 1475-9276