Since the economic crisis, policy changes across Europe appear to be moving countries away from universal health systems with broad coverage to systems where sections of the population are excluded from the full range of publicly available services. A new report from the European Public Health Association analyses these trends across Europe and contrasts the […]
Impacts of economic policies on access to healthcare Read More »
The French population has a good level of health, with the second highest life expectancy in the world for women. The French state has a strong role in the health insurance system, which offers a high level of choice of providers. While the French population is largely satisfied with the health system, the overall state
Health systems in transition – France Read More »
Life expectancy in Switzerland (82.8 years) is the highest in Europe after Iceland. The Swiss health system offers a high degree of choice and direct access to all levels of care with virtually no waiting times. As this new review of Swiss health care makes clear, public satisfaction with the system is high and quality
Health systems in transition – Switzerland Read More »
The health systems we enjoy today, and expected medical advances in the future, will be difficult to finance from public resources without major reforms. Finding policies that can make health spending more sustainable without compromising access and quality requires effective co-operation between health and finance ministries. Prepared by both public finance and health experts, this
Financing health care in the future Read More »
The conference “Innovative Financing Opportunities for Active and Healthy Ageing” looked at how to leverage public and private financial instruments to maximise synergies in the area of active and healthy ageing. In particular, it focused on the EU financial instruments, the investment plan for Europe, joint procurement of innovative solutions and new ways of public-private co-investments
Innovative Financing Opportunities for Healthy Ageing Read More »
Following a public consultation, the independent Expert Panel, which gives non-binding advice to the European Commission on matters related to effective ways of investing in health, has adopted a final opinion on “Competition among health care providers – Investigating policy options in the European Union”. The Expert Panel addressed the role of competition among health
Competition among health providers Read More »
Many European countries saw further reductions in health spending in 2013, according to OECD Health Statistics 2015. Health spending continued to shrink in Greece, Italy and Portugal and most countries in the European Union reported real per capita health spending below the levels of 2009. Outside the EU average real growth in health spending was
OECD Health Statistics 2015 Read More »
Healthcare expenditure in Germany was around € 290 billion in 2012, equivalent to 10.9 {ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} of GDP. Belgian healthcare expenditure was also equivalent to 10.9 {ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} of GDP and the only EU countries with higher percentages were France (11.2 {ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96}) and the Netherlands (11.8 {ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96}). Denmark and Austria also reported that current healthcare expenditure exceeded 10.0 {ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} of GDP. Outside the
Healthcare expenditure stats from Eurostat Read More »
Tobacco use reduces overall national income by 3.6{ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96}. Obesity accounts for 1–3{ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} of all health expenditure in most countries. These and other surprising facts came to light in a report published by WHO/Europe on the long- and short-term effects of a country’s health status on its financial and economic situation. “The case for investing in
Investing in public health is an economic win-win Read More »
The rising burden of chronic illness, in particular the increase in the number of people with multiple health problems, is a challenge to health systems globally. Associated premature mortality and reduced physical functioning, along with higher use of health services and related costs, are among the key concerns faced by policy-makers and practitioners. Delivery systems
Assessing chronic disease management in European health systems Read More »
