The right to health care in several European countries

The right to health care in several European countries:

The right to health care publishes the papers from a meeting held in 1998 at the Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University. The meeting was convened to address the meaning and consequences of the right to health care in today's changing health care systems. The debate was primarily focused on access to health care services and facilities from a multi-disciplinary perspective. A comparative approach was taken between several Western and Eastern viewpoints on access to health care. By comparing the legal and economic experiences of access to health care, the hosts hoped to provide useful information applicable to health care reform processes, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

Over the last decade, health care system reforms have been dominated by mainly economic objectives and motives. Confronted with rapidly decreasing resources, a general deteriorating health status, increased demand for health care and the push towards improving the quality of care, Central and Eastern European health policy-makers in particular have to cope with the legal dilemma of both guaranteeing and limiting access to health care. The authors for the papers in this book were asked to present the results of national experiences on the meaning of the right to health care. Topics discussed in the papers include: the pros and cons of a constitutional right to health care; the nature and scope of a right to health care; the enforceability of a right to health care; statutory constraints; the meaning of case law concerning the interpretation of a right to health care; the constraints of health care claims and cost containment measures and choices in health care. Each chapter covers a different country or range of countries, including: Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Russia, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Although the various health care systems in these countries differ substantially, it is argued that the pros and cons of the right to health care are comparable. Legal restrictions and other instruments have been developed to limit this right.

This book offers a diverse range of viewpoints and coverage providing a useful resource for anyone interested in health care rights from a legal and economic perspective.