The goal of every health system is (or ought to be) universal health care. This goal is reflected in obligations nations have assumed under a number of international, regional and domestic legal and policy frameworks. In general, these frameworks provide broad guidelines, leaving each country at...

A common feature of all high performing health systems is their anchor on equity, fairness and universal access to health services – the trinity of better health. While some countries, such as Britain and Canada, have attained this threshold, others with nascent and fragile health systems,...

This study compares the Canadian and US health care systems on the provision of Pap smears for women. Probit estimates show that American women are more likely to receive the screening. A question arises as to whether differences in the estimated probability of the Pap smear are the result of...

The Healthcare Openness and Access Project (HOAP) is a collection of state-by-state comparative data on the flexibility and discretion that US patients and providers have in seeking and delivering healthcare. HOAP combines these data to produce 41 indicators of openness and accessibility. In...

This article presents current activity in the privacy of personal health information (PHI) and the quality of health care, discusses the connections between them, and examines the effects of this activity on certain groups. In recent years, as more insurers, providers, and purchasers have...

The incentives and structure of health care in the United States produce exactly what we should expect in the quality of care for chronic disease: highly variable patterns of care and widespread failure to implement evidence-based best practices. The persistent inability of providers to improve...

Healthcare systems differ greatly across the world, however, it appears that the extent of public insurance (publicly/government funded healthcare) is the only institutional characteristic that plays a significant role in accounting for the large disparities in total healthcare spending. Other...

The article analyzes the development of the national healthcare system after the introduction of market reforms in Russia. We consider the economic substance of healthcare services, the specificity of their provision. Reveals social peculiarity of medical services and a high significance for...

The objective of this study is to establish the extent of income-related inequalities and inequities in GP and medical specialist utilisation in Ireland. This paper will also provide a comparison of income-related inequalities and inequities in Irish health care utilisation in 1996, as...

Far and away the biggest problem with the American health care system has to do with coverage. In 2004, for example, while 245.3 million Americans (84.2%) had some type of health care coverage, 45.8 million (15.7%) were without coverage. Clusters of individuals that tend to lack coverage include...