Regional OutlookSouthern Europe

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 271-274

Author(s):

Elisa Chuliá ◽

Karen M. Anderson

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Historical Development ◽

Social Insurance ◽

Healthcare Access ◽

Healthcare Systems ◽

Comparative Assessment ◽

The Political ◽

Southern Europe ◽

Health Politics ◽

Health Related

The Southern Europe regional outlook presents a comparative assessment of the historical development of the healthcare system, health politics, and selected health-related indicators for Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The politics of democratic consolidation has influenced the development of healthcare systems; in some periods, healthcare policies have been central to the institutional consolidation and legitimation of existing regimes, but they have also been negatively affected by the political, administrative, and financial shortcomings of these governments. All of these countries have witnessed late transitions from social insurance healthcare systems based on occupation (with fairly developed means-tested programs) to universal and mostly tax-financed national health services: Italy and Portugal made this shift in the 1970s, Spain and Greece in the 1980s, and Cyprus after 2000. As the chapter argues, the central issue in Southern Europe concerns expanding healthcare access in the context of economic vulnerability. According to indicators such as infant mortality, life expectancy, and declines in treatable mortality, health outcomes in Southern Europe are largely favorable, but austerity politics have taken their toll.

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Ireland

10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 75-114

Author(s):

Camilla Devitt

Keyword(s):

Healthcare System ◽

Historical Development ◽

Universal Coverage ◽

Public Hospitals ◽

The Political ◽

Health Politics ◽

Means Testing ◽

Hospital Development ◽

Political Spectrum ◽

Government Legislation

This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the largely tax-financed health system in Ireland. It traces the historical development of the Irish healthcare system, characterized by the institutionalization of a health service that obliged and incentivized the middle classes to pay for their healthcare, out-of-pocket or through voluntary private health insurance. Since the late 1980s, the hospital sector has become more privatized, while universal coverage has been partially introduced to the primary sector. While center-right government legislation which institutionalized the treatment of private patients in public hospitals elicited strong parliamentary opposition from across the political spectrum, the fiscal incentivization of private hospital development, introduced by a center-right coalition, was subject to little debate. The most significant turning point in healthcare policy since 1989 has been the removal of means-testing and provision of free general practitioner care to the under-6s and the over-70s. Cross-party consensus on a plan to move towards a universal tax-based healthcare system was reached in 2017.

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Regional Outlook

10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 71-74

Author(s):

Jane Gingrich ◽

Scott L. Greer

Keyword(s):

Historical Development ◽

Waiting Times ◽

Unmet Need ◽

Health Financing ◽

Political Issue ◽

Health Politics ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Health Related ◽

The Uk ◽

Private Financing

The regional outlook for Ireland and the United Kingdom, both liberal market economies characterized by a limited role for the state, presents a brief comparative assessment of the historical development of their healthcare systems, health politics, and selected health-related indicators. The two are quite different in terms of health financing, with the UK’s health system relying on substantially larger tax expenditures and less private financing. Reported unmet need in the UK is therefore largely attributed to waiting times, whereas in Ireland it is mainly due to cost. Notably, reported unmet need is higher in both than it was in 2005. Since at least 2002, healthcare has tended to be a salient political issue in both Ireland and the UK.

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Latvia

10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0020 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 434-455

Author(s):

Edgars Eihmanis

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Health Services ◽

Cultural Politics ◽

Health Financing ◽

Individual Responsibility ◽

Political Agenda ◽

The Political ◽

Health Politics ◽

Back Seat ◽

Out Of Pocket Payments

This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the tax-financed health system in Latvia. It traces the development of the Latvian healthcare system, characterized by tension between central and local government, increasing commercialization, and chronic public underfinancing. Since independence in 1991, Latvia first decentralized then recentralized health financing. The state has taken the back seat in provision of health services and allotted larger roles to private providers and to solutions such as out-of-pocket payments that emphasize individual responsibility. In Latvia, life expectancy is among the lowest, and unmet needs are high. As the chapter argues, because of the country’s cultural politics, healthcare rarely tops the political agenda.

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Regional Outlook

10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0018 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 397-400

Author(s):

Mare Ainsaar ◽

Ave Roots

Keyword(s):

Unmet Need ◽

Health Financing ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Political Agenda ◽

The Political ◽

Health Politics ◽

Baltic Countries ◽

Out Of Pocket Payments ◽

Health Related ◽

The Baltic

The regional outlook for the Baltic countries presents a comparative assessment of the historical development of the healthcare system, health politics, and selected health-related indicators for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, each of which pursued a different path to establishing a new health system after independence in 1991. In terms of health financing, out-of-pocket payments are relatively high, especially in Latvia and Lithuania. But while, as might be expected, unmet need due to cost is quite high in Latvia, it is rather low in Lithuania. Though the political saliency of healthcare has been rather low in the Baltics, it appears to be moving up the political agenda. High health inequalities, low satisfaction with healthcare services, and access are among the problems that have persisted.

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The effect of regional politics on regional life expectancy in Italy (1980–2010)

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1403494816686266 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 121-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marcel F. Jonker ◽

Edoardo D’Ippolito ◽

Terje A. Eikemo ◽

Peter D. Congdon ◽

Nicola Nante ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Healthcare Reform ◽

The Political ◽

Political Regimes ◽

Regional Politics ◽

Italian Regions ◽

Political Effects ◽

Health Related ◽

Health Studies ◽

Bayesian Time Series

Background: The evidence on the association between politics and health is scarce considering the importance of this topic for population health. Studies that investigated the effect of different political regimes on health outcomes show inconsistent results. Methods: Bayesian time-series cross-section analyses are used to examine the overall impact of regional politics on variations in Italian regional life expectancy (LE) at birth during the period 1980–2010. Our analyses control for trends in and unobserved determinants of regional LE, correct for temporal as well as spatial autocorrelation, and employ a flexible specification for the timing of the political effects. Results: In the period from 1980 to 1995, we find no evidence that the communist, left-oriented coalitions and Christian Democratic, centre-oriented coalitions have had an effect on regional LE. In the period from 1995 onwards, after a major reconfiguration of Italy’s political regimes and a major healthcare reform, we again find no evidence that the Centre-Left and Centre-Right coalitions have had a significant impact on regional LE. Conclusion: The presented results provide no support for the notion that different regional political regimes in Italy have had a differential effect on regional LE, even though Italian regions have had considerable and increasing autonomy over healthcare and health-related policies and expenditures.

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Toward Identifying Mild Cognitive Impairment in Hispanic and African American Adults

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/persp2.sig2.110 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 110-116

Author(s):

Valarie B. Fleming ◽

Joyce L. Harris

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

African American ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Healthcare Access ◽

Communication Disorders ◽

Healthcare Systems ◽

Prevention Education ◽

Education Management ◽

African American Adults

Across the breadth of acquired neurogenic communication disorders, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may go undetected, underreported, and untreated. In addition to stigma and distrust of healthcare systems, other barriers contribute to decreased identification, healthcare access, and service utilization for Hispanic and African American adults with MCI. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have significant roles in prevention, education, management, and support of older adults, the population must susceptible to MCI.

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The Role of the Business Sector in Global Health Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190456818.013.23 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 385-408

Author(s):

Kelley Lee ◽

Julia Smith

Keyword(s):

Collective Action ◽

Global Health ◽

Business Sector ◽

Policy Debate ◽

Public And Private ◽

Health Politics ◽

For Profit ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Private Interests ◽

Health Related

The influence of for-profit businesses in collective action across countries to protect and promote population health dates from the first International Sanitary Conferences of the nineteenth century. The restructuring of the world economy since the late twentieth century and the growth of large transnational corporations have led the business sector to become a key feature of global health politics. The business sector has subsequently moved from being a commercial producer of health-related goods and services, contractor, and charitable donor, to being a major shaper of, and even participant in, global health policymaking bodies. This chapter discusses three sites where this has occurred: collective action to regulate health-harming industries, activities to provide for public interest needs, and participation in decision-making within global health institutions. These changing forms of engagement by the business sector have elicited scholarly and policy debate regarding the appropriate relationship between public and private interests in global health.

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Inequalities in life expectancy by place of residence and its changes in Lithuania during 1990-2018

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.450 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

S Sauliune ◽

O Mesceriakova-Veliuliene ◽

R Kalediene

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Place Of Residence ◽

Entire Study ◽

Demographic Groups ◽

National Mortality ◽

Health Related ◽

Urban Rural ◽

Notable Increase ◽

Males And Females

Abstract Introduction Health inequalities have emerged as a big issue of public health in Lithuania. Recent studies have demonstrated increasing mortality differentials between different socio-demographic groups of the population. Urban/rural place of residence is related with a set of socio-economic characteristics, different access to material resources, presence or absence of social support, and attitudes to health-related behavior. The aim of the study To determine inequalities in life expectancy and its changes by place of residence (urban/rural) in Lithuania during 1990-2018. Methods Information on deaths and population numbers for the period of 1990-2018 was obtained from National Mortality Register and Population Register. Life expectancy for males and females of urban and rural populations was calculated using life tables. Changes in the magnitude of life expectancy inequalities by place of residence were assessed using rate differences (urban-rural); while trends in inequalities were estimated by conducting the Joinpoint regression analysis. Results Life expectancy among males and females was longer in urban compared to rural areas throughout the entire study period. Life expectancy increased statistically significantly for urban and rural males and females with the most notable increase for males, especially those living in rural areas (on average by 0.4% per year from 64.1 years in 1990 to 70.05 years in 2018). Inequalities in life expectancy by place of residence decreased statistically significantly among Lithuanian males from 3.48 years in 1990 to 1.39 years in 2018, while among females only the tendency of decrease was estimated. Conclusions Inequalities in life expectancy of males and females by place of residence decreased significantly in Lithuania throughout the period of 1990-2018, mainly due to positive changes in life expectancy among rural males. Key messages Inequalities in life expectancy of males and females by place of residence decreased significantly in Lithuania throughout the period of 1990-2018. Life expectancy increased for Lithuanian urban and rural males and females with the most notable increase for males, especially those living in rural areas.

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