Mapping European healthcare systems: a comparative analysis of financing, service provision and access to healthcare.

Healthcare systems have been institutionalized to provide healthcare for those in need. Therefore, comparisons should focus in particular on differences in healthcare provision and on how access to healthcare services is regulated. This article presents a typology of healthcare systems which simultaneously takes into account data on expenditures, financing, provision and access to healthcare in 15 European countries. On this basis, three types of healthcare system have been constructed using statistical cluster analysis: a health service provision-oriented type that is characterized by a high number of service providers and free access for patients to medical doctors; a universal coverage -- controlled access type where healthcare provision has the status of a social citizenship right and equal access to healthcare is of higher importance than free access and freedom of choice; and a low budget -- restricted access type where financial resources for healthcare are limited and patients' access to healthcare is restricted by high private out-of-pocket payments and the regulation that patients have to sign up on a general practitioner's list for a longer period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]