Private Health Insurance in France: Between Europeanization and Collectivization

New Public Management, Austerity, and the Alienation of the Medical Profession in France

In the last twenty years, France has gone through health policy changes that are perceived as paradigm shifts. After briefly describing the reforms driven by the new public management and the subsequent re-centralization of the French health system for budgetary purposes, it appears that those reforms had outcomes below expectations. The regrouping of policy decisions within the Regional Health Agencies and the rise of a French Welfare elite weakened the medical profession. Blame-shifting strategy, political dilution, and spatial inequality linger. The COVID-19 epidemic highlights those limitations. The negative societal and political impact of failed public reforms is increasingly evident.

Government Health Expenditure, Economic Growth, and Regional Development Differences—Analysis Based on a Non-parametric Additive Model

Government health expenditure plays an important role in guaranteeing people's livelihood and in improving the quality of human capital, and it also plays an important role in affecting economic development. In order to characterize the specific trend of government health spending affecting economic growth, and analyze the impact difference in different regions, this paper uses a non-parametric additive model to analyze the impact of government health expenditure on economic development and regional development differences based on three aspects: linear, non-linear and comprehensive effects. From the perspective of linear effects, the results show that the proportion of government health expenditure to GDP nationwide and in the western regions has a positive impact on economic development, while the impact in the eastern and central regions is negative. From the perspective of non-linear effects, in the national and in the eastern, central and western regions, the proportion of government health expenditure to GDP has a significant non-linear impact on economic development. From the perspective of comprehensive effects, the proportion of government health expenditure to GDP has a significant non-linear positive effect on economic development nationwide and in all regions. In addition, the proportion of fixed assets investment to GDP, the proportion of exports to GDP, and the proportion of residents' income to GDP promote non-linear effects to different extents of non-linear promotion, but there are slight differences in different regions. Based on estimation results, the paper recommends that the government further expands the proportion of government health expenditure in GDP, promotes investment in fixed assets, stimulates exports in the eastern region, and continues to implement the western support policy.

COVID-19 Medical and Pharmacological Management in the European Countries Compared to Italy: An Overview

(1) Background: Italy accounts for more than 150,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the top rank in SARS-CoV-2-caused deceases in Europe. A survey on the different ways by which the COVID-19 pandemic emergency was managed in the foreign European countries compared to Italy is the purpose of this paper. (2) Methods: A literature search and various mathematical algorithms to approach a rank scoring scale were used to describe in detail the different approaches used by European countries to manage the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. (3) Results: The study showed that Italy stands at the bottom ranking for COVID-19 management due to its high mortality rate. Possible causes of the observed huge numbers of hospitalization and deaths were (a) the demographic composition of the European country; (b) its decentralized healthcare system organization; (c) the role of correct pharmacology in the early stages before hospitalization. Post-mortem examinations were of paramount importance to elucidate the etiopathogenesis of COVID-19 and to tailor a suitable and proper therapy in the early symptomatic stages of COVID-19, preventing hospitalization. (4) Conclusions: Factors such as the significant impact on elderly people, the public health organization prevalently state-owned and represented mainly by hospitals, and criticism of the home therapy approach toward SARS-CoV-2-infected people, may have concurred in increasing the number of COVID-19 deaths in Italy.