Main description:

Research has paid little attention to date on how European Union law and regulation affect both the public-private mix in healthcare and the organization of private health insurance as an industry. Filling this gap, this collective book provides insights on the political economy of EU insurance regulation, its impact on private health insurers and on its interactions with domestic healthcare policy-making in four countries. Assembling original contributions drafted by a multidisciplinary team, Private Health Insurance and the European Union offers a thorough examination of a largely unrecognized source of EU influence in healthcare - and sheds a new light on the role played by private actors in social policy.
Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction: The European Union, the Insurance Industry and the Public-Private Mix in HealthcarePart 1: The Political Roots of EU Insurance LegislationChapter 2: Insurance Directives and the Single Market: towards a trivialization of Private Health Insurance?Chapter 3: Solvency II, the European Government of Insurance Industry and Private Health InsurancePart 2: The Impact of the European Union Private Health InsuranceChapter 4: The Uncertain and Differentiated Impact of EU Law on National (private) Health Insurance RegulationsChapter 5: An increasing homogenisation of Private Health Insurers under Solvency II? Part 3: Shifting the public-private mix in healthcare? Multifaceted paths towards EuropeanizationChapter 6: Private Health Insurance in Belgium: Marketization Crowded Out?Chapter 7: Europeanised, marketised but still governed by the State? Private Health Insurance in FranceChapter 8: Ireland: The Ambiguous Role of the Health Insurance MarketChapter 9: The Dutch Way: Experimenting with Competition in the Healthcare systemChapter 10: In between the market and public health insurance: a place for occupational welfare in Europe?