This paper seeks to explain a convergence trend in the role of the state in OECD healthcare systems. By convergence we mean that healthcare systems become increasingly similar with regards to the public/private mix in financing and service provision, and with respect to their regulatory...

The economic crises of the 1970s marked the end of the 'Golden Age' of the welfare state and triggered a broad range of cost containment measures in OECD countries. In the healthcare sector the difficulties of cutting back state involvement are largely caused by the fact that the legitimacy of...

This paper is a first attempt to classify 30 OECD healthcare systems according to a typology developed by Rothgang et al. (2005) and elaborated by Wendt et al. (2009). The typology follows a deductive approach. It distinguishes three core dimensions of the healthcare system: regulation,...