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Article: The politics of universalisation: establishing national health services in Southern Europe.
- Article from:
- West European Politics
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Frank Cass & Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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All Southern European countries have enacted reform laws during the last 20 years with the intention of turning their health insurance systems into national health services. In particular, reform laws were passed in 1978 in Italy, in 1979 in Portugal, in 1983 in Greece and in 1986 in Spain. The aim of this article is to examine this policy change comparatively in order to assess the reform results and to single out the most influential factors. In comparative terms, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain were relatively late in adopting something akin to the national health service model. Great Britain introduced its National Health Service in 1946; Sweden followed suit. ...