This panel in a widely distributed infographic is meant to illustrate “equality,” because everyone, tall or short, has been given the same crate.

Equity and equality in healthcare are distinct approaches and theories that can lead to very different outcomes. Health equality means giving everyone the same opportunities, care, and services.

Darrin M. McMahon is a professor of history at Dartmouth, and the author of Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea (Basic Books).

As Mr. Riley states, equality can be interpreted as equal opportunity, while equity can assume an equal outcome, that a society’s wealth is owned in common and not primarily by those who create it.

Equity is absolutely not the same as equality, but they play for the same team. Equitable solutions require us to understand history, context, and cultural relativism.

This past year saw 17 private equity-owned companies in healthcare filing for bankruptcy. The numbers are clear—more and more bankruptcies happening in healthcare are related to private equity.

The irony of the equity debate is that some people believe we must treat some students unequally to compel equality of outcome. In striving for equality of outcome it could leave many people without ...

Equality of opportunity is at the core of what this nation was founded upon. The concept of “equity,” on the other hand, is immoral, Communistic, and un-American.

In the old debate between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome, today equity is commonly used to describe something resembling the latter. The thinking goes that it doesn’t matter if a ...