Despite some relative improvements in the last fifteen years, the National Health Service remains an international laggard in terms of those health outcomes that can be attributed to the healthcare system. In international comparisons of health system performance, the NHS almost always ranks in...

2018 marks the 70th birthday of the UK National Health Service – an institution which commands an unparalleled trust and reverence from the British people.1 Yet, to many casual onlookers, the Health Service appears to be in a perpetual state of “crisis”. To some extent, this is borne out...

Governments in many low- and middle-income countries are developing health insurance products as a complement to tax-funded, subsidized provision of health care through publicly operated facilities. This paper discusses two rationales for this transition. First, health insurance would boost...

Health outcomes and the quality of health care in Iceland are very good by international comparison, while income-related health inequality appears to be smaller than in most other countries. However, the health-care system is costly and, according to OECD estimates, public expenditure on health...

This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the Swedish healthcare system and the challenges that it will face in the future. It discusses ways to improve access to primary care, including different methods for paying GPs, whether access is less equitable than in other countries and the...

In this article, we discuss the public health provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). We first set forth a framework to identify the key reforms that are needed for a robust public health system. These include workforce and infrastructure investments. We then assess...

Globally, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has sparked unexpected and violent outbursts against doctors, nurses, and other health personnel. In the Indian context, studies on violence against doctors and other medical staff largely focus on supply-demand imbalances in health care,...

The successful implementation of free GP care for all private patients in Ireland requires an estimate of the likely change in the number of GP visits occasioned by this policy so as: (i) to set the capitation fee; and (ii) to ensure adequate supply of GPs is in place. The paper examines two...

This paper compares health care systems. It looks beyond normal academic, political, or journalistic rhetoric, by exactly sticking to facts, i.e. empirical data (in particular data provided by the WHO) and comprehensive case study analyses. The paper finds that a number of myths and common...

We exploit a change in the public healthcare entitlement of undocumented migrants in Spain to investigate the causal link between withdrawal of healthcare and changes in help-seeking behaviour of women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). We contribute to the new literature modelling...