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Health Policy in the European Union

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The Palgrave International Handbook of Healthcare Policy and Governance

Abstract

By most standards, the health systems of Western Europe are among history’s most successful. Almost all afford effective universal coverage, financed by a stable share of gross domestic product (GDP), and deliver healthcare of good quality. Public health is also good, with life expectancies rising in most coun- tries. Naturally, a detailed look at the performance of different European health systems identifies a more nuanced picture, with lots of room for improvement (Mackenbach and McKee, 2013), but the problems Europeans have not solved are frequently problems that almost nobody has solved, such as inter- and intra-state health inequalities (Mackenbach, 2012).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan School of Public Health, USA

    Scott L. Greer (Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy)

  2. University of Linz, Austria

    Margitta Mätzke (Professor of Politics and Social Policy)

Authors
  1. Scott L. Greer
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  2. Margitta Mätzke
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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)

Copyright information

© 2015 Scott L. Greer and Margitta Mätzke

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Greer, S.L., Mätzke, M. (2015). Health Policy in the European Union. 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_16

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