Moral economies of responsibility in the welfare state: Healthcare for migrants with irregularised status in Denmark

Although Denmark has ratified human rights conventions promoting universal healthcare, migrants with irregularised residency status (MIS) remain excluded from national healthcare services. While previous research has focused on moral economies of deservingness, this article examines moral economies of responsibility to explore how healthcare exclusion and inclusion are discursively legitimised and challenged. Using qualitative content analysis, I trace competing discursive framings in political and public debates on the provision and restriction of healthcare for MIS in Denmark between 2010 and 2020. I use the concept of competing moral economies to explore how these framings reveal differing interpretations of social obligation highlighting the influence of welfare nationalism and neoliberalism on prevalent framings. Responsibility is framed through a social contract ideology, emphasising the state’s duty to protect welfare resources for Danish citizens. Healthcare for MIS is accordingly portrayed as an illegitimate use of resources, with state responsibility limited to minimal acute care. Conversely, NGOs and healthcare professionals highlight humanitarian and international obligations to challenge restrictive policies. These debates underscore the complex interplay of shifting welfare social contract ideologies, anti-immigration nationalist politics, and international human rights obligations, each of which articulate different expectations regarding who is responsible to whom, and under what conditions.