5 - Financing and Provision

Summary

The dimensions of funding and healthcare provision are combined with each other. From the intersection of these two dimensions, four families of healthcare systems stand out: two large ones (each containing a dozen countries) and two smaller ones. The two larger families reflect the traditional contrast between "Bismarck" systems and "Beveridge" systems. One of the two largest families is, in fact, made up of the Social Health Insurance countries in that all these countries have a separate provision system. The other larger family is made up of integrated universalist systems (NHS countries). The two smaller families are made up, respectively, of countries that have a separated universalist system and countries that adopt the mandatory residence insurance model. The latter all have a separated delivery system. From the four families just outlined, three countries are excluded: Greece, Israel and the United States can be considered as “outliers.”