Solidarity In Health And Social Care In Europe

OF 'SOLIDARITY' IN UK SOCIAL WELFARE Here then, perhaps, is a British version of solidarity in social welfare, but early there are strong tensions between the powerfully liberal individualistic strands of the British understanding of the functions of the state and the socialistic or communitarian tendency of a commitment to universal welfare provision. In the search for the roots of this understanding of welfare we shall survey, fitst, the historical background to these tensions in some early British political philosophers, starting with Hobbes and ending with Mill. We then consider the philosophical and social influences on the Beveridge Report itself, and we will trace the emergence of the philosophy of the welfare state in the era following the Second World War. Finally we consider the contemporary debate, as it relates to the 'Third Way' thinking of New Labour. 2. A mSTORICAL SKETCH In the previous section we observed that the philosophy underlying the Beveridge Report could be described as 'liberal collectivism'. What are the historical antecedents of this strange amalgam of individualism and collectivism? Within the short scope of this chapter, any account of the philosophical history must be little more than a sketch, but we can perhaps understand most debates in British socio-political thought as a continuing dialogue with the well known claim of Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan that all political institutions are founded on egoistic motives.

In this timely book, Ruud ter Meulen argues that the current trend towards individual financial responsibility for health and social care should not be at the expense of the welfare of vulnerable and dependent individuals. Written with a multidisciplinary perspective, the book presents a new view of solidarity as a distinct concept from justice with respect to health and social care. It explains the importance of collective responsibility and takes the debate on access to healthcare beyond the usual framework of justice and rights. Academics from a range of backgrounds, including sociology, ethics, philosophy and policy studies will find new perspectives on solidarity and fresh ideas from other disciplines. Policymakers will better appreciate the contribution of family carers to the well-being of dependent and vulnerable people, and the importance of the support of solidarity in these types of care.

This book presents a new view on the concept of solidarity and explains how it complements justice in health and social care.

Reform of the welfare sector is an important yet difficult challenge for all countries in transition from socialist central planning to market-oriented democracies. Here a scholar of the economics of socialism and post-socialist transition and a health economist take on this challenge. This 2001 book offers health sector reform recommendations for ten countries of Eastern Europe, drawn consistently from a set of explicit guiding principles. After discussing sector-specific characteristics, lessons of international experience, and the main set of initial conditions, the authors advocate reforms based on organized public financing for basic care, private financing for supplementary care, pluralistic delivery of services, and managed competition. Policymakers need to achieve a balance, both assuring social solidarity through universal access to basic health services and expanding individual choice and responsibility through voluntary supplemental insurance. The authors also consider the problems that undermine effectiveness of market-based competition in the health sector.

Shifting Solidarities offers a comprehensive analysis of solidarity at a time when major social transformations have penetrated the heart of European societies, disrupting markets and labour relations, transforming social practices, and affecting the moral infrastructure of European welfare states. Factors such as the economic crisis, migration, digitalisation, and climate change all contribute to a sense of emergency. This volume considers how, in times of crisis, there are calls for solidarity by various new social and political actors and movements. The contributions present a broad array of empirical work and critical scholarship, zooming in on shifting solidarities in various domains of social life, including work, social policy, health care, religion, family, gender and migration. This compelling volume provides a unique resource for understanding solidarity in contemporary Europe, and will be a vital text for students and scholars across sociology, social policy, cultural studies, employment/labour markets and organisation studies, migration studies and European studies.

In the twenty-first century, complex health care problems have remained unsolved. Conflicts between public interests and individual rights, evolving public health crises in low income countries, the challenge of regulating health professionals, and the effects of globalisation on health (care systems) dominate the contemporary debates in this field. In a way, these problems expose the (regulatory) weaknesses of health systems responding to these questions. Facing these problems, health lawyers and policy makers should - more than in the past - focus on underlying normative values in health care. Core values include solidarity and justice in health care access. International Health Law explores the underlying normative values of health systems from a global and local perspective. Apart from examining country experiences, the authors provide an interesting and valuable contribution to the (inter)national legal and health policy debate on guaranteeing equal access to health care facilities, resisting a market or consumer-driven movement. By explaining health systems in terms of access, solidarity and justice, International Health Law could contribute strengthening health systems, including equal access. Book jacket.

The EU has only limited competence to regulate national health-care systems but recent developments have shown that health care is not immune from the effects of EU law. As Member States have increasingly experimented with new forms of funding and the delivery of health-care and social welfare services, health-care issues have not escaped scrutiny from the EU internal market and from competition and procurement rules. The market-oriented EU rules now affect these national experiments as patients and health-care providers turn to EU law to assert certain rights. The recent debates on the (draft) Directive on Patients’ Rights further underline the importance, but also the difficulty (and controversy), of allowing EU law to regulate health care. The topicality of the range of issues related to health care and EU law was addressed, in October 2009, at a conference held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The present volume contains inter alia the proceedings of this conference and invited essays. This volume follows the publication of The Changing Legal Framework for Services of General Interest in Europe. Between Competition and Solidarity (Krajewski M et al (eds) (2009) T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague) and launches a new series: Legal Issues of Services of General Interest. The aim of the series is to sketch the framework for services of general interest in the EU and to explore the issues raised by developments related to these services. The book is compulsory reading for everyone who is engaged in issues relating to health care and EU law. Johan van de Gronden is Professor of European Law at the Law Faculty of the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Erika Szyszczak is a Jean Monnet Professor of European Law ad personam and Professor of European Competition and Labour Law at the University of Leicester, UK. Ulla Neergaard is Professor of EU law at the Law Faculty of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Markus Krajewski is Professor of International Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.