Author(s): Jacquinet, Marc ; Curado, Henrique ; Gomes, Paulo Sérgio Machado Veloso ; Caetano, João Relvão
Date: 2010
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/15784
Origin: Repositório Aberto da Universidade Aberta
Subject(s): Health; Health care; Care; Health policy
Healthcare systems have undergone a wide and deep transformation that is only partly reflected in the growth of the per capita spending relative to GDP. Much more transformations are to be explained. Southern European countries are usually considered as a relatively homogeneous group with similar social trends in their health care system. Is it really so and to what extent? Are their more than three or four European models and are European societies – with regard to health policies and systems – converging? What are the specificities of Southern European countries? Our comparative analysis encompasses European countries from the EU and some other countries of the OECD. The data explored are the Health statistics from the OECD and country analysis and data. The Portuguese case serves as a yardstick to get a point of reference. Policy measures and trends will be compared. The results can be summarized at two or three levels: (1) the changes in demography with ageing population all over Europe, (2) the reorientations of health policies and (3) the new social practices around those health national systems. Some specificities of the different counties or group of countries are to be highlighted. The picture is one of complex change: neither a simple convergence nor clear divergences.
