Re:#3136
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR RESEARCH WORKING PAPER
HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS IN THE EU
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/workingpapers/saco/pdf/101_en.pdf
Totem of the people
"Janet Daley and her colleagues at the Daily Telegraph use the words 'talisman' and 'totem', to imply that the British majority, the supporters of the NHS, are followers of a primitive belief system which lies beyond rational understanding. They are not the first to make such an analogy. Nigel Lawson, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher, famously remarked in his memoirs:
"The National Health Service is the closest thing the English have to a religion, with those who practise in it regarding themselves as a priesthood." ..."
http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/totem_of_the_people_01684.html
International Healthcare Comparisons
"The 'On-call' Facility for International Healthcare Comparisons provides timely, targeted, relevant and concise information on a range of health policy themes from Europe, Australia and New Zealand to inform health policy developments in England.
Our work focuses on comparative analysis to facilitate learning from the experience of other health systems as an input to policy development by the Department of Health.
We respond to specific requests for information on international experience in areas ranging from health sector capacity planning to activity-based financing of hospitals. The themes we work on are selected in close consultation with the Department of Health. We provide in-depth analyses and rapid-response-type briefings based on data provided by the International Healthcare Comparisons Network."
http://www.international-comparisons.org.uk/