Options In Health Care Reform: NERA Study

13 November 1995

Financing is the crucial part of any health care system; everything else revolves around it, Ullrich Hoffmeyer, senior consultant at national Economic Research Associates in the UK, has told a European workshop on health reforms, sponsored by Pharmaceutical Partners for Better Healthcare, the London School of Economics and the Directorate General XII of the European Commission. Last month, PPBH published the proceeding of the workshop.

Dr Hoffmeyer described a study by NERA into the health care systems in 13 countries (the G7 nations plus the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland), and the options they have for designing and implementing structural reforms. The health care systems of the 13 countries fall into the following four groups:

- national health systems, of which the UK is the prime example, and others are Spain, New Zealand and Italy; - regional health services, which constitute a variant of the national health services, and operate in Sweden and Canada. These systems solve one problem admirably but create another. Everyone is insured, but the problem is in budget-setting. Since the Ministry of Finance or the Treasury decides how much to spend on health care each year, it has a detached interest about whether this is actually enough to cover the expected costs of the population's needs. So waiting lists appear, there is rationing of care and technology, and a deterioration of the system if the available funds are not enough to cover the needs of the population.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free.  A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Login to your account

Become a subscriber

 

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now
  • Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
  • Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
  • Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
  • Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
  • Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK





Today's issue

Company Spotlight