Scientists from different disciplines answer fundamental questions on the relationship between public health care and individual responsibility. The German public health care system and the increasingly advocated market-oriented approach are examined and critically scrutinised as one of the major challenges of modern times. The analysis begins with a definition of health, then explores the interdependence of statehood and healthcare, as well as the provisions of international law and goes on to discuss how healthcare is organised "between economy and state". The investigation of the Constitutional framework, the economic conditions, the role of Diakonie, and the special character of the doctor-patient relationship are crucial for the following discussion of solidarity, individual responsibility and distributive justice. Individual responsibility is contrasted against the background of social inequality in the context of philosophical and legal concepts of justice and Christian Social Ethics.