In de zorg voelt de winst van de een nu als het verlies van de ander: Naar een beter begrip van winst in de zorg door in de discussie over winst in de zorg onderscheid te maken tussen een leefwereld- en een systeemwereldperspectief

Systematic research on societal responses to profit in healthcare is scarce. It is a highly complex topic, with many tensions in the public and political debate. In a recent Dutch publication on profit, authors use a ‘lifeworld’ perspective to assess profit in their research, while their assessment could have been different using a ‘system’ perspective. Both perspectives have their merit, and debate on the role of profit in health care should separate the two perspectives. We describe both perspectives and use them to clarify whether making a profit is different from paying that profit to share holders. We conclude that in health care, the general tension between the perspectives can be summarized as ‘profit for one actor may feel - but isn’t always - someone else’s loss’. Recognizing these tensions and searching for a strategy to align interests in which everyone gains may help the current stagnated debate on this issue in the Netherlands.