This book surveys some of the most significant topics in recent health systems analysis (the role of rights in health care provision, the fluctuating level and type of health insurance coverage across states, and important shifts in legal frameworks impacting the provision of health care). The contributions to the volume document how these trends converge or diverge across jurisdictions, but they also probe the interplay of these variables (does the existence of a justiciable “right” to health care lead to better insurance coverage, or to a more thoroughgoing focus on public health measures. While some major Western European states (United Kingdom, Italy, Spain) are represented in this discussion, the work includes other Eastern European and Euro-Asian nations that have been neglected in much of the literature on comparative health systems. Thus, it is focused on newly democratic Eastern states, as they are still in the process of significant reform, and are still finding their way. In this regard, the publication includes analyses of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Kazahstan, Azerbajan, and Georgia, written by legal advisors and early-career researchers who are intimately familiar not only with the state’s laws and policies, but also the wider social and political context which gives these health care systems their particular characteristics. To this mix, Brazil has also been added as a particularly useful complement to the discussion since it is one of the few large states to acknowledge the existence of a justiciable health care right.
