Discussions of health care reforms are always tightly connected with the question of ensuring equity in financing health care. This paper analyses the German health care reform 2007 and its effect on the equity of health care financing. To do this Rawls’ and Nozick’s perceptions of justice...

Das englische National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) wird in der bundesdeutschen Diskussion um die Reform der Institutionen zur Konkretisierung des Leistungskatalogs in der GKV entweder als Vorbild oder als abschreckendes Beispiel genannt. Die Analyse der von NICE angewandten...

Against the background of Mexico's persistently high degree of inequality, this paper analyzes the country's experience with pro-poor policies over the last decade. A number of important government initiatives, implemented since the mid-1990s, have aimed at improving distributional equity...

In Italy, health care budget ceilings are not effective. The poor control by the central government results in excessive use of expensive inputs, in long waiting lines for medical procedures, and in the emergence of large arrears to suppliers and commercial banks. To fully gain the benefits of...

This brief summarizes evidence on the benefits and cost-effectiveness of preventive health services, noting that health reform brings significant new opportunities to improve access to preventive care.

This primer aims to provide IMF macroeconomists with the essential information they need in situations where they must address issues concerning health sector policy and when they have significant macroeconomic implications. Such issues can also affect equity and growth and are fundamental to...