Social Health Insurance Systems in Western Europe

· What are the characteristics that define a Social Health Insurance system?
· How is success measured in SHI systems?
· How are SHI systems developing in response to external pressures?

Using the seven Social Health Insurance countries in western Europe - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland - as well as Israel, this important book reviews core structural and organizational dimensions, as well as recent reforms and innovations.

Covering a wide range of policy issues, the book:
· Explores the pressures these health systems confront to be more efficient, more effective, and more responsive
· Reviews their success in addressing these pressures
· Examines the implications of change on the structure of SHI’s as they are currently defined
· Draws out policy lessons about past experience and likely future developments in SHI systems in a manner useful to policymakers in Europe and elsewhere

Social Health Insurance Systems in Western Europe will be of interest to students of health policy and management as well as health managers and policy-makers.

Contributors: Helmut Brand, Jan Bultman, Reinhard Busse, Laurent Chambaud, David Chinitz, Diana M.J. Delnoij, André P. den Exter, Aad A. de Roo, Anna Dixon, Isabelle Durand-Zaleski, Hans F.W. Dubois, Josep Figueras, Bernhard Gibis, Stefan Greß, Bernhard J. Güntert, Jean Hermesse, Maria M. Hofmarcher, Martin McKee, Pedro W. Koch-Wulkan, Claude Le Pen, Kieke G.H. Okma, Martin Pfaff, Richard B. Saltman, Wendy G.M. van der Kraan, Jürgen Wasem, Manfred Wildner, Matthias Wismar.

Social Health Insurance, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies List of contributors Helmut Brand is Director of the Institute of Public Health NRW in Bielefeld, Germany. Jan Bultman is Lead Health Specialist at the World Bank in Washington DC, USA. Reinhard Busse is Professor and Department Head of Health Care Management at the Technische Universitat in Berlin, Germany and Associate Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Care Systems. Laurent Chambaud is President of the French Society of Public Health and Director of the Regional Department of Health and Social Affairs (DRASS) of Franche-Comte in Besancon, France. David Chinitz is Senior Lecturer at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health in Jerusalem, Israel. Diana M.J. Delnoij is Senior Research Coordinator at the Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research (NIVEL) in Utrecht, Netherlands. Andre P. den Exter is Assistant Professor of Health Law at the Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Aad A. de Roo is Professor of Strategic Health Care Management at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University in Tilburg, Netherlands. Anna Dixon is Lecturer in European Health Policy at the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science in London, UK. Isabelle Durand-Zaleski is Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health of the Henri Mondor Hospital in Paris, France. Hans F.W. Dubois is Research Officer of the European Observatory on Health Care Systems in Madrid, Spain. Josep Figueras is Head of the Secretariat and Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Care Systems and Head of the European Centre for Health Policy, Brussels, WHO Regional Office for Europe. Bernhard Gibis is Director of the Department of Quality Assurance at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) in Berlin, Germany. Stefan Gress is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Care Management, University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany. Bernhard J. Guntert is Professor for Management of Health Services and Health Economics at the University for Health Information and Technology Tyrol in Innsbruck, Austria. Jean Hermesse is National Secretary at the National Federation of the Christian Sickness Funds in Brussels, Belgium. Maria M. Hofmarcher is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna, Austria. Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, UK and Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Care Systems. Pedro W. Koch-Wulkan is Head of the Medical Technology Unit at the Swiss Federal Office of Health in Bern, Switzerland. Claude Le Pen is Professor of Economic Sciences at the Universite Paris-Dauphine in Paris, France. Kieke G.H. Okma is Senior Advisor with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in The Hague, Netherlands. Martin Pfaff is Professor of Economics at the University of Augsburg and Director of the International Institute for Empirical Social Economics (INIFES) in Stadtbergen, Germany. Richard B. Saltman is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University in Atlanta, USA and Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Care Systems. Wendy G.M. van der Kraan is a doctoral student at the Institute of Health Management and Policy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Jurgen Wasem is Professor and Director of the Institute of Health Care Management, University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany. Manfred Wildner is Unit Head GE 4 (Health Reporting, Health Promotion, Disease Prevention, Social Medicine) at the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority and Lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. Matthias Wismar is Health Policy Analyst at the European Centre for Health Policy in Brussels, WHO Regional Office for Europe.