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Healthcare Policy and Finance

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The Palgrave International Handbook of Healthcare Policy and Governance

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of healthcare financing and expenditure in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. There are four main sources of healthcare financing: taxes, social insurance contributions, private insurance contributions, and private out-of-pocket payments. Protection in the case of sickness depends on redistribution among social groups and therefore on a high level of solidarity in society. In certain cases, medical care is so expensive that only the very rich are able to cover the costs. Furthermore, illnesses and injuries are major crises in a person’s life; thus, he or she needs security that medical care will be provided and that costs will be covered in case of illness. In the words of Shmuel Eisenstadt (2003), we need a ‘marker of certainty’ that necessary healthcare will be provided if we become seriously ill.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Siegen University, Germany

    Claus Wendt (Professor of Sociology of Health and Healthcare Systems)

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  1. Claus Wendt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

    Ellen Kuhlmann

  2. University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Robert H. Blank (Adjunct Professor) (Adjunct Professor)

  3. Institute of Population Health and the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada

    Ivy Lynn Bourgeault (Professor) (Professor)

  4. University of Siegen, Germany

    Claus Wendt (Professor of Sociology of Health and Healthcare Systems) (Professor of Sociology of Health and Healthcare Systems)

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© 2015 Claus Wendt

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Wendt, C. (2015). Healthcare Policy and Finance. In: Kuhlmann, E., Blank, R.H., Bourgeault, I.L., Wendt, C. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Healthcare Policy and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137384935_4

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