Health system governance in Europe : the role of European Union law and policy / Elias Mossialos ... [et al.] -- Health care and the EU : the law and policy patchwork / Tamara Hervey and Bart Vanhercke -- EU regulatory agencies and health protection / Govin Permanand and Ellen Vos -- The hard politics of soft law : the case of health / Scott L. Greer and Bart Vanhercke -- Public health policies / Martin McKee, Tamara Hervey and Anna Gilmore -- Fundamental rights and health care / Jean McHale -- EU competition law and public services / Tony Prosser -- EU competition law and health policy / Julia Lear, Elias Mossialos and Beatrix Karl -- Public procurement and state aid in national health care systems / Vassilis Hatzopoulos --Private health insurance and the internal market / Sarah Thomson and Elias Mossialos -- Free movement of services in the EU and health care / Wouter Gekiere, Rita Baeten and Willy Palm -- Enabling patient mobility in the EU : between free movement and coordination / Willy Palm and Irene A. Glinos -- The EU legal network on e-health / Stefaan Callens -- EU law and health professionals / Miek Peeters, Martin McKee and Sherry Merkur -- The EU pharmaceuticals market : parameters and pathways / Leigh Hancher

Whether there is a public health need for the containment and response to swine flu, or an individual need to access health care across the border for a hip operation to alleviate pain, the EU has an increasingly powerful role in the field of human health. Health law and policy is deeply tied into fundamental rights, bioethics and values, with important implications for individuals. However, it is also an expansive area of economic regulation, of social and state arrangements. The growing role of the EU in human health law and policy is contested, particularly as it has implications for the fundamental rights and values that are enshrined in national health law and policy. This book outlines, through case studies, how the expansion of EU power is taking place through law and policy, in both public health and health care. How is law and policy in the field of human health adopted, who are the institutional actors involved, and what is the impact of these developments for fundamental rights?

Sufficientarian approaches maintain that justice should aim for each person to have "enough". But what is sufficiency? What does it imply for health or health care justice? In this volume, philosophers, bioethicists, health policy-makers, and health economists assess sufficiency and its application to health and health care in fifteen original contributions.

Health Politics in Europe: A Handbook is a major new reference work, which provides historical background and up-to-date information and analysis on health politics and health systems throughout Europe. In particular, it captures developments that have taken place since the end of the Cold War, a turning point for many European health systems, with most post-communist transition countries privatizing their state-run health systems, and many Western European health systems experimenting with new public management and other market-oriented health reforms. Following three introductory, stage-setting chapters, the handbook offers country cases divided into seven regional sections, each of which begins with a short regional outlook chapter that highlights the region's common characteristics and divergent paths taken by the separate countries, including comparative data on health system financing, healthcare access, and the political salience of health. Each regional section contains at least one detailed main case, followed by shorter treatments of the other countries in the region. Country chapters feature a historical overview focusing on the country's progression through a series of political regimes and the consequences of this history for the health system; an overview of the institutions and functioning of the contemporary health system; and a political narrative tracing the politics of health policy since 1989. This political narrative, the core of each country case, examines key health reforms in order to understand the political motivations and dynamics behind them and their impact on public opinion and political legitimacy. The handbook's systematic structure makes it useful for country-specific, cross-national, and topical research and analysis.

This report addresses the concepts and controversy surrounding health technology assessment in Europe, with a particular focus on selected Member States including Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is intended to identify and address current considerations regarding HTA methodological and process issues related to the prioritization and financing of modern health care. In particular, it describes the processes and challenges for identifying and prioritizing assessments; assesses and compares current assessment methods and procedures; and highlights the barriers to effective implementation. The report also ascertains the roles and terms of engagement of key stakeholders, and captures the opportunities and challenges for the use of HTA guidance in general priority-setting, decision-making and health-care provision.

This volume contains an Open Access Chapter - This book provides a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability of health systems in Europe. Furthermore, it includes an introduction on how EU action in supporting health- care policies in the EU Member States, both looking at implemented actions and describing current priorities for the future.

Presenting extensive coverage of key theoretical and policy issues within the field of health care research, this forward-looking Research Handbook contends that students of health care need to take policy more seriously.