Healthcare in Europe
Healthcare in Europe is provided through a wide range of different systems run at individual national levels. Most European countries have a system of tightly regulated, competing private health insurance companies, with government subsidies available for citizens who cannot afford coverage.[1][2] Many European countries (and all European Union countries) offer their citizens a European Health Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countries.[3]
European health
World Rank |
EU Rank |
Country | Life expectancy at birth (years) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5. | 1. | Spain | 83.4 | ||
6. | 2. | Italy | 83.4 | ||
11. | 3. | Sweden | 82.7 | ||
12. | 4. | France | 82.5 | ||
13. | 5. | Malta | 82.4 | ||
16. | 6. | Ireland | 82.1 | ||
17. | 7. | Netherlands | 82.1 | ||
19. | 8. | Luxembourg | 82.1 | ||
20. | 9. | Greece | 82.1 |
The World Health Organization has listed 53 countries as comprising the European region. Health outcomes vary greatly by country. Countries in western Europe have had a significant increase in life expectancy since World War II, while most of eastern Europe and the former Soviet countries have experienced a decrease in life expectancy.[5]
Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of death in Europe. Many countries have passed legislation in the past few decades restricting tobacco sales and use.[5] According to the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) conducted between 2013 and 2015, substantial inequalities existed in terms of sex, age and education level concerning the proportion of adults who were daily smokers of cigarettes.[6]
European Union
The
Both the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control are involved in public health development in Europe.[7]
COVID-19 pandemic
The
Response
The emergence of the Coronavirus has upended life as we know it in various European Union countries. In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health infrastructures and resources, governmental, and cultural values all play a key role in stopping the threat. Finding an approach that balances effectiveness, efficiency, and successful response to the pandemic is the key to ending the crisis.
European Union countries like Greece and Sweden have similar populations and sizes. They have a difficult cultural and political stance. The government response of various European countries to the pandemic was to stay home and slow down the spread of the virus. It was proactive in closing businesses and stores early on and even before the first COVID-19 death. The governmental response including the banning of all international non-essential travel and COVID-19 lockdowns helped to keep the death toll to a minimum.[12]
In comparison, the government response to
Life expectancy
There is a big gap between genders in
Life expectancy has risen from
The decrease in life expectancy has been a dramatic one, which is known to be the biggest decrease in life expectancy compared to World War II. The explanation given is because due to the poor life expectancy already occurring in the European Union, COVID-19 made it worse, decreasing life expectancy and causing more deaths.[16]
Vaccination rates
Vaccines are a powerful tool being used nationwide against COVID-19. At the beginning of the
Due to the high demand on
Spending
Expand the OECD charts below to see the breakdown:
- "Government/compulsory": Government spending and compulsory health insurance.
- "Voluntary": Voluntary health insurance and private funds such as households’ out-of-pocket payments, NGOs and private corporations.
- They are represented by columns starting at zero. They are not stacked. The 2 are combined to get the total.
- At the source you can run your cursor over the columns to get the year and the total for that country.[19]
- Click the table tab at the source to get 3 lists (one after another) of amounts by country: "Total", "Government/compulsory", and "Voluntary".[19]
Spending and life expectancy
See: List of countries by life expectancy and List of countries by total health expenditure per capita.
See also
- Economy of Europe
- Euro health consumer index
- European Institute of Women's Health
- European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
- European Practice Assessment
- List of countries with universal health care
- List of European regions by life expectancy
References
- ^ Sanger-Katz, Margot (19 February 2019). "What's the Difference Between a 'Public Option' and 'Medicare for All'?". The New York Times.
- ^ Abelson, Reed; Sanger-Katz, Margot (23 March 2019). "Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. 'There's No Precedent in American History.'". The New York Times.
- ^ "European Health Insurance Card". European Commission. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
A free card that gives you access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in any of the 28 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, under the same conditions and at the same cost (free in some countries) as people insured in that country.
- ^ "2019 Human Development Index Ranking | Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- ^ S2CID 36761194.
- ^ "Tobacco consumption statistics". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
- ^ "European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)". www.euro.who.int.
- S2CID 235729576.
- ^ "Global expenditure on health: Public spending on the rise" (PDF).
- ^ Bank, European Investment (2 February 2023). "Health Overview 2023".
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(help) - ^ "How much did governments spend on health in 2020?". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
- S2CID 234309582.
- PMID 32892337.
- PMID 33486774.
- ^ Janssen, Fanny (6 July 2021). "Future life expectancy in Europe taking into account the impact of smoking, obesity, and alcohol". eLife.
- ^ Wetzel, Corryn (29 September 2021). "In Western Europe, Covid-19 Caused the Biggest Drop in Life Expectancy Since World War II". Smithsonian.com.
- ^ "Questions and answers on COVID-19: Vaccines". European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. European Commission. 21 October 2021.
- ^ Charles, Michel (18 November 2021). "COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic: the EU's response". Consilium.
- ^ . 2 bar charts: For both: From bottom menus: Countries menu > choose OECD. Check box for "latest data available". Perspectives menu > Check box to "compare variables". Then check the boxes for government/compulsory, voluntary, and total. Click top tab for chart (bar chart). For GDP chart choose "% of GDP" from bottom menu. For per capita chart choose "US dollars/per capita". Click fullscreen button above chart. Click "print screen" key. Click top tab for table, to see data.
- ^ Link between health spending and life expectancy: US is an outlier. May 26, 2017. By Max Roser at Our World in Data. Click the sources tab under the chart for info on the countries, healthcare expenditures, and data sources. See the later version of the chart here.