Healthcare systems. A new European model?

For almost 2 decades, the European nations have witnessed a continuous cycle of healthcare reform policies. Although each of these efforts to craft new public policy has been tailored to fit the specific political, social and cultural circumstances of each country, there are many striking similarities among these attempts to reduce costs while preserving the quality and equity of healthcare. Everywhere, market-oriented healthcare proposals and policies have been introduced. But everywhere these have gone hand in hand with plainly anticompetitive mechanisms, which have brought the command-and-control structure of Europe's healthcare systems under even greater government control. Market mechanisms were introduced only as a means to limit costs, and not with the goal to empower patients. The goal has been to limit the economic growth of the healthcare sector by restricting consumption.