Several contributions developed the argument that health rights are not only about individually enforce- able claims, but more about the recognition of positive and more systemic obligations to implement equitable health protection and promotion. References in human rights documents and in the literature to the concept of progressive realization of the right to health reflects a recognition of the limits of traditional rights- based approaches not only in the context of complex health care decision making, but also in other areas of social life. Clearly, law’s contribution to domestic or global health cannot only be about the creation of individually enforceable claims against the state or against others. All forms of rights conceptually entail both negative and positive duties, and acknowledgment of such heralds a more sophisticated under- standing of how law operates (or should operate) in a larger societal context. No one obtains good health care in splendid isolation.