Of course people living on low incomes would welcome more cash, but handouts conditional on behaving in ways defined as good by highly paid health professionals are highly problematic.

So what is the problem? Poverty has long preoccupied public health, and social reforms and charitable handouts have always been part of the response. But the welfare systems introduced in countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in the early 20th century signalled a shift from “the poverty problem” to a concern with inequality: from charity to comprehensive systems of social protection based on entitlement.1 These systems were not perfect but their fundamental aim—to develop fairer, more inclusive and cohesive societies—remains relevant.2