Sick-leave days differ widely among industrialised countries. For the US it is 5, for Sweden 20 and for Poland 26 days per year and per employee. The possible causes for these differences have apparently not been systematically analysed. Two groups of contributing factors are considered: (1)...

Higher co-payments in health insurance systems may lead to a reduced demand for health care services, but may impose an additional financial burden on persons of low income and/or high health care costs. For the case of the German public health insurance, the article tries to show that a system...

Sick-leave days differ widely among industrialised countries. For the US it is 5, for Sweden 20 and for Poland 26 days per year and per employee. The possible causes for these differences have apparently not been systematically analysed. Two groups of contributing factors are considered: (1)...