Increasing Healthcare Opportunities for Low- and Middle-Income European Citizens

Abstract

Improvements in the health status of the European citizens have been notorious in the last decades. Life expectancy is higher than anywhere else in the world. In these countries Universal healthcare systems is a reality and is, in part, behind these good results. Higher income countries like United States see European healthcare systems as the solution to all their problems. The question is whether these models can cope with new diseases and expensive treatments for the low and middle-income population. These models, however, face as well issues of inequality because of the lack of patient choice and high cost.