Comparisons among national health care systems in the European marketplace

Most European countries have adopted either a Bismarckian system of compulsory health care insurance or a national health care system funded by taxation. For both systems, a basic level of health care is free at the point of use for all citizens. Health care has been undergoing reforms in most European countries. In the western nations, the autonomy of providers of services has increased, elements of competition and cost control have been introduced, and incentives to provide more cost-effective care have been initiated. Most central and eastern European countries have begun to return to the social insurance model for funding services. The ownership of some hospitals in these countries has been transferred to the private sector or to not-for-profit organizations. The European countries vary widely in their standards of facilities and professional staffing, and these generally reflect the prosperity of the country. During the 1980s, western countries implemented measures to limit the growth of health care expenditure, resulting in some reduction in the proportion of the gross domestic product spent on health care. Cost controls may not be as effective in the 1990s, as a result of demographic changes. More modern health care systems will likely develop in some of the central and eastern European countries, although this change will probably be slow.