Comparative health policy / Robert Blank and Viola Burau.

Summary: This comparative text, aimed at both students and practitioners, assesses in relation to a set of key themes and issues the extent to which problems facing healthcare systems have common causes or spring from specific national circumstances.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Comparative Health Policy: An Introduction -- The problem of ageing populations-- Medical technology and health policy -- Rising public expectations and demands --Types of health care-- Health care as public policy -- Comparative health policy -- Why study these countries?-- Health care systems-- Classifications of health care systems -- Conclusions--2. Political, Historical and Cultural Contexts-- Contrasting political systems --The comparative wealth of countries-- Population size and diversity -- Cultural/historical factors shaping health care -- Legal systems-- Different approaches to defining health-- Culture and traditional medicine--The context of health care--3. Funding, Provision and Governance -- Comparing funding of health systems-- National health services and the commitment to public funding-- Public funding through social insurance-- Private insurance and the emphasis on individual responsibility --Control of funding and pressures for reform-- Health services and patient choice -- Welfare mixes in the provision of health care-- Models of contracting health services-- Health governance between centre and locality -- The authority of governments in health policy -- 4. Setting Priorities and Allocating Resources --The goals of health policy -- Cost containment strategies -- The government and the marketplace -- Allocation and rationing: the need to set priorities-- Rationing and the individual-- Efforts to control new medical technologies-- Trends in priority setting--5. The Medical Profession-- Who doctors are --Types and settings of medical practice-- Reforming medical practice-- Paying for medical care -- The organization of doctors\' interests and access to the policy process -- Doctors, the state and health policy --6. Beyond the Hospital: Health Care in the Home-- Home care statistics -- Providing home health care-- Funding home health care-- The interface between formal and informal care-- Policy trends and developments --7. Public Health -- The case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- Framing a public health policy-- Public health responsibility and funding --Health promotion-- Occupational health-- Other dimensions of public health -- Social and economic determinants of health-- Public health: putting medicine in context --8. Understanding Health Policy Comparatively -- Policy embeddedness and the importance of differences -- Policy convergence and the predominance of similarities -- The complexities of health policy-- Identifying \'best practices\' and cross-national learning-- Contribution to the comparative study of health policy.

This comparative text, aimed at both students and practitioners, assesses, in relation to a set of key themes and issues, the extent to which problems facing healthcare systems have common causes or spring from specific national circumstances.