Healthcare systems--an international review: an overview

Area of Science:

• Health Policy
• Comparative Healthcare Systems
• Health Economics

Background:

• Healthcare systems vary globally, primarily distinguished by funding sources: taxation (Beveridge), social insurance (Bismarck), and private insurance.
• These models influence healthcare delivery, resource allocation, and patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the impact of different healthcare funding models on access, quality, and cost.
• To analyze healthcare systems in selected European countries and the US.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of healthcare systems based on funding models.
• Evaluation of access, quality, and cost metrics across different national healthcare structures.

Main Results:

• Publicly funded (Beveridge) systems demonstrate nearly 100% access.
• Mixed (Bismarck) systems achieve high access, often supplemented by private insurance.
• No significant quality differences were found between public and mixed systems, with public systems spending less GDP on healthcare.
• The US private insurance model exhibits the highest costs, lowest access, and poor quality rankings.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare funding models profoundly affect system performance.
• Publicly funded and mixed systems offer more equitable and cost-effective healthcare compared to the US private insurance model.
• Policy implications suggest that universal access and quality can be achieved with lower healthcare expenditures.