scholarly journals Privatisation and profitisation in health care. A comparative study of Sweden and the Netherlands

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Verspohl

<p>During the last 20 years, privatization<br />became an issue in health care. The neoliberal<br />market idea promised to increase<br />efficiency and responsiveness, while at the<br />same time relieving public budgets. European<br />countries have introduced all kind of market<br />instruments, reaching from internal markets,<br />over DRGs, to increased co-payments.<br />However, the welfare state literature<br />currently lacks a detailed explanation of<br />these different reforms.<br />All health care systems in the European<br />Union are affected by the same problem<br />pattern: demographic change, raising<br />demand, medical-technical innovations and<br />labour intensive services. Nonetheless, the<br />degree and form of privatization varies a lot.<br />This paper studies the power of ideas within<br />the framework of structural reform pressure<br />and institutional path-dependency. The<br />causes for privatization reforms are studied<br />in two countries representing the two ideal<br />types: the Netherlands for Social Health<br />Insurance and Sweden for the National<br />Health Service.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 560-560
Author(s):  
Jennifer Ailshire ◽  
Cristian Herrar ◽  
Margarita Maria Osuna

Abstract With rapid population ageing, providing better end-of-life care (EOLC) is becoming a source of social demand and financial pressure for public and private budgets in many countries. This paper uses data from harmonized end-of-life interviews in the HRS family of studies to assesses variation in health care utilization across different income groups and how they differ across different health care systems. Hospital stay did not vary across health care systems, but nursing home stays were lower in countries with either national or statist social health insurance systems. Hospice use was low in all countries, but particularly in national and social health insurance systems. Lower income was associated with greater use of nursing homes in both the private and social health care systems. Low income was also associated with greater use of hospice in national health service, but lower use in social health service.


2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Newdick

Most now recognize the inevitability of rationing in modern health care systems. The elastic nature of the concept of “health need,” our natural human sympathy for those in distress, the increased range of conditions for which treatment is available, the “greying” of the population; all expand demand for care in ways that exceed the supply of resources to provide it. UK governments, however, have found this truth difficult to present and have not encouraged open and candid public debate about choices in health care. Indeed, successive governments have presented the opposite view, that “if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and access to it will be based on need and need alone.” And they have been rightly criticized for misleading the public and then blaming clinical and managerial staffin the National Health Service (NHS) when expectations have been disappointed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-677
Author(s):  
Claus Wendt

Abstract This article discusses recent developments in and new principles of European social health insurance (SHI). It analyses how privatization policies and competition have altered social insurance and whether financial difficulties are caused by social insurance features not evident in other types of health care systems. There is little if any evidence that SHI causes higher cost increases than other types of systems. The comparison of five European SHI systems demonstrates that despite cost containment policies these countries do not experience a trust crisis in health care or loss in support among the public. The author shows that SHI has moved toward universal health care and that the traditional values of solidarity and social security have even been strengthened over the past decades.


2007 ◽  
Vol 227 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Buchner ◽  
Rebecca Deppisch ◽  
Jürgen Wasem

SummaryHealth care systems are financed through a mixture of different components: taxes, contributions to social health insurance, premiums to private health insurance, out of pocket payments by patients. These components can be combined differently leading to specific effects of interpersonal redistribution. This can be compared between different countries. In such a comparison the redistributional impact of the German health care systems is rather regressive - which is basically caused by the opportunity for people with high income to leave social health insurance. In comparison to a health insurance system with risk rated premiums, financing of the German social health insurance leads to interpersonal redistribution from higher to lower income, from the young to the elderly, from healthy to sick and from singles to families with children. The pay-as-you-go character of the system leads especially in combination with an aging population and technological change to burden for future generations. In comparison to a system in which each region finances its own health care expenditures, there are also considerable interregional redistributions. The financing system in Germany is not conceptually consistent. Reform proposals (unified health insurance for all; flat rate premiums) tackle these inconsistencies.


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