Health Care Systems Around the World: A Comparative Guide

This concise reference provides a one-stop point of research that examines major aspects of health care systems for over 190 countries worldwide. In a consistent format, ten major health care categories are systematically examined for each country: 1. Emergency Health Services; 2. Costs of Hospitalization; 3. Costs of Drugs; 4. Major Health Issues; 5. Government Role in Health Care; 6. Insurance; 7. Access to Health Care; 8. Health Care Facilities; 9. Health Care Personnel (doctor level of training, etc.); and 10. Public Health Programs. The volume is organized in alphabetical order of country names. Each country is presented on a two- or three-page spread with the same descriptive and statistical content, allowing readers to compare health care systems from country to country. For example, a reader may compare costs of drugs in France versus the United States versus Canada. Each country spread will feature short entries on the ten health care categories accompanied by charts, table, and photos as appropriate. The work culminates as a unique and essential resource for pre-med and medical students, as well as researchers in sociology, economics, and the health management fields.

Sarah E. Boslaugh, Ph.D., M.P.H., has over 20 years of experience in statistical analysis, grant writing, and teaching; her employers and clients have included the New York City Public Schools, Montefiore Medical Center, Kennesaw State University, Washington University School of Medicine, and Saint Louis University. She served as editor-in-chief for the Encyclopedia of Epidemiology (SAGE, 2007), and has published three additional books: An Intermediate Guide to SPSS Programming: Using Syntax for Data Management (SAGE, 2004), Secondary Data Sources for Public Health: A Practical Guide (Cambridge University Press, 2007), and Statistics in a Nutshell (O’Reilly, 2nd ed., 2012).

Boslaugh received her Ph.D. in measurement and evaluation from the City University of New York Graduate Center and her M.P.H. from Saint Louis University. She is currently a technical writer and editor at Saint Louis University in Missouri. She specializes in data-based articles and explaining statistical principles to the general public. Her research interests include comparative health care delivery systems, quality of life measurement, and gender and sexuality issues in health care delivery. In her spare time, she reviews films and books for PopMatters (http://www.popmatters.com) and Playback St. Louis (http://www.playbackstl.com).