This study presents a broad overview of health-system reforms in OECD countries over the past several decades. Reforms are assessed according to their impact on the following policy goals: ensuring access to needed health-care services; improving the quality of health care and its outcomes;...

An ambitious reform to increase efficiency of the Portuguese health care system was launched in 2002. In contrast to previous attempts of gradual reforms, which were never fully implemented, the strategy has been to create a big bang in the health sector, making changes essentially irreversible....

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...

High and rapidly rising health care costs in the United States and growing ranks of uninsured persons have brought health care reform to the top of the U.S. Administration`s policy agenda. This paper describes the health care financing system in the United States, highlights what are viewed as...

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...

During the past years we have witnessed an important number of healthcare systems reforms in the continent, being more radical in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States and Uruguay. As part of its CISS Health System and Insurance Report (CISS 2008), the...

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...

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 paper addresses efficiency and inequality issues under the conditions of increasing competition in the health care sector in Russia. Co-existence of state-funded mandatory and market-based voluntary medical insurance as well as high proportion of direct out-of-pocket payments create the...

This paper assesses the performance of the United States health system in an international context and discusses potential directions for reform. The US health system is unique among OECD countries in its heavy reliance on the private sector for both financing and delivery of health care. The...