Sticking with Carrots and Sticks (Sticking Points Aside): A Response to Ventakapuram, Goldberg, and Forrow

I would like to thank Sridhar Ventakapuram, Daniel Goldberg, and Lachlan Forrow for thoughtful responses to my article (1–4). All endorse my main point, that conditioning the very aid that patients need in order to become healthier on their success in becoming healthier is (usually) wrong. They may think me, however, too friendly to an approach that gives patients “carrots” or “sticks” depending on how healthy their choices are. Ventakapuram writes, “What comes out of the article most clearly is that Eyal is fine with the carrots and sticks approach to health policy, he just wants to help clarify what should and should not be the carrots and sticks”.