The health systems we enjoy today, and expected medical advances in the future, will be difficult to finance from public resources without major reforms. Public health spending in OECD countries has grown rapidly over most of the last half century. These spending increases have contributed to...

In December 2002, the Commission released the proceedings of its August 2002 workshop on Managed Competition. The workshop was organised to provide an opportunity for a more detailed discussion by a group of leading health policy analysts of the proposal by Dr Richard Scotton of a 'managed...

Written by health policy experts, the book gives a comprehensive overview of 8 different national health care systems and focuses in particular on the different approaches to maintain efficiency and to contain overall healthcare costs.

In all four countries health care expenditures grow while the revenue remains at the same level or even shrinks in many cases. Due to medical progress, ageing and many other factors the gap is widening over time. The pay-as-you-go approach is running against limits either with rising employer...