Comparative Health Policy

Ageing populations, the proliferation of new technologies, shifting global issues and intensified public expectations and demands are creating new challenges for all health care systems throughout the world. Some observers suggest that this is leading to a convergence towards the adoption of increasingly similar health policies. Others, however, argue that pre-existing national differences in structures, cultures and patterns of provision and governance preclude simple convergence. Comparative Health Policy provides a broad ranging introduction to the funding, provision and governance of a wide array of health systems, systematically comparing Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Singapore, Taiwan and the USA. The 5th edition of this highly-regarded text includes new coverage of low- and middle-income countries and of the health workforce, as well as acute care, primary care, long-term and home care and public health services. It analyses the impact of variation in the relative emphasis on the goals of equity, quality and efficiency on priority setting and service provision, and assesses what lessons can be learned about the consequences of various public/private mixes, policy, and funding frameworks. Comprehensive and accessibly written, this text will make for the perfect introduction for students of comparative and global health policy. Robert H. Blank is an Adjunct Professor at University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and Visiting Professor in Public Health at the National Taiwan University.Viola Burau is Associate Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and Senior Researcher at DEFACTUM - Public Health and Health Services Research, Denmark. Ellen Kuhlmann is Senior Researcher at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany, and Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.