TY - BOOK ID - 8133254 TI - Two centuries of solidarity : German, Belgian and Dutch social health care insurance 1770-2008 PY - 2009 SN - 9052603448 9786613259721 9048521289 1283259729 9789048521289 9789052603445 PB - Amsterdam : Aksant, DB - UniCat KW - Insurance, Health -- history -- Belgium. KW - Insurance, Health -- history -- Germany. KW - Insurance, Health -- history -- Netherlands. KW - Insurance KW - History KW - History, Modern 1601 KW - -Insurance, Health KW - Humanities KW - Financing, Organized KW - Economics KW - Health Care Economics and Organizations KW - Health Care KW - Health insurance KW - Social medicine KW - Public health KW - Medical care KW - Medical sociology KW - Medicine KW - Medicine, Social KW - Health plans, Prepaid KW - Insurance, Health KW - Medical care, Prepaid KW - Medical insurance KW - Prepaid health plans KW - Prepaid medical care KW - Sickness insurance KW - Social aspects KW - Public welfare KW - Sociology KW - Medical ethics KW - Medical sociologists KW - Ambulance service KW - Health care reform KW - Home care services KW - Hospitals KW - Medically uninsured persons KW - Surgical clinics KW - Prospective payment KW - Emergency services KW - Outpatient services KW - Rehabilitation services KW - History. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:8133254 AB - Today, health insurance is a key component in the system of social security in most European Union countries. In many of these countries, modern health-insurance funds and healthcare insurers play an essential role in implementing the public health-insurance system. Many of these health-insurance funds have a long and fascinating history, of which clear traces can be seen today in the organisation and structure of health insurance, as well as health-insurance funds and insurers. In Two centuries of solidarity, the authors compare the systems of health insurance, health-insurance funds and healthcare insurers in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Given the similar political, economic and social development that these countries have undergone in the past 60 years and the availability of a qualitatively high level of health care, one might expect a high degree of similarity between these countries' healthcare insurance systems. However, the dissimilarities are surprising. In fact, these differences are currently becoming ever more apparent between systems in general, and the structure and operation of the health insurance funds and health care insurers in particular. The differences include the compulsory nature of insurance, the extent of coverage, premiums, entrepreneurship, competition, and the degree of private insurance. Many of these national singularities can be understood and explained only by considering the historical background of the health insurance systems, the insurers, and their evolution over the past two centuries. This study adopts an institutional and political perspective towards a further understanding of the development of health insurance, and of how this ultimately determined the specific nature of the healthcare insurers and funds and the way they currently operate in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. ER -