Health care reforms and the crisis

This report looks at the impact of the crisis on health care reform patterns in ten EU countries (France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the UK-England). It assesses the changing allocation of responsibilities for regulation, financing, and provision of health care, as well as the growing influence of EU governance on national health systems.

The work identifies a number of trends that affect subgroups of EU member states. It does however not find evidence that the EU is promoting national convergence towards a unique model. The report concludes that 'EU leverage' remains mainly limited to aspects of financial sustainability and cost-effectiveness and in most countries has not been as influential as that of domestic reform agendas. In the countries that entered financial assistance programs –Greece, Romania, and Ireland- such an emphasis on the health budget was complemented by real “imperatives” for cost containment and budget cuts.