Political decision-making in health care: the Dutch case.
In many western countries health care is a subject of increasing importance on the political agenda. Issues such as aging, development of medical technologies, equity and efficiency of care, increasing costs, market elements, etc. are leading to a review of existing health care systems. In The Netherlands the government has proposed fundamental changes in the structure and financing of care, based on a report by the so-called Dekker Committee. The final result of a step-wise process of change should be the introduction of a new insurance scheme and the strengthening of market elements. After a short description of the government proposals, this article gives an analysis of the process of decision-making for a restructuring of health care in the Netherlands. The analysis is based on a bureaupolitical model, as originally described by Allison.
D003657:Decision Making; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000639:trends*; D009426:Netherlands; D011057:Politics