The Transformation of the Social Right to Healthcare
This pathbreaking book investigates welfare state change in the area of healthcare a field widely neglected by comparative welfare state research. While some work on healthcare expenditure exists, healthcare rights have not been systematically studied since social rights have exclusively focused on entitlement to cash benefits. Addressing this research gap, Bhm analyses in what way the social right to healthcare has been modified in the course of general welfare state transformation since the late 1970s. Taking England and Germany as examples, she assesses how healthcare reforms conducted under the conditions of constrained budgets, demographic ageing, and rapid medical progress, have altered access to and generosity of public healthcare systems over the past 35 years. The books findings significantly increase our understanding of social rights and reveals fundamental differences of approach: while Germany provides absolute and enforceable rights to healthcare for each (entitled) individual, English social healthcare rights are directed towards the population as a whole and contingent upon the availability of resources, i.e. they are not absolute and not enforceable. This distinction between individual and collective social rights will be an important contribution to the theory of social rights given its applicability to other types of social rights and its usefulness in tracing changes in social rights over time.
Katharina Bhm, is Junior Professor for health policy and politics at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. She has published on various health policy issues, including priority setting and rationing, Europeanization of health policy and German health policy reforms.
Social Welfare Around the World
Series editor: Bent Greve
Roskilde University, Denmark
This series publishes high quality research monographs and edited books focusing on development, change in provision and/or delivery of welfare with a primary focus on developed welfare states. The books provide overviews of themes such as pensions, social services, unemployment or housing, as well as in-depth analysis of change and impact on a micro level. The impact and influence of supranational institutions on welfare state developments are studied as are the methodologies used to analyse the ongoing transformations of welfare states.
Forthcoming titles:
The Transformation of the Social Right to Healthcare
Evidence from England and Germany
Katharina Bhm
Welfare State Transformation in the Yugoslav Successor States
From social to unequal
Marija Stambolieva
First published 2017
by Routledge
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2017 Katharina Bhm
The right of Katharina Bhm to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bhm, Katharina, author.
Title: The transformation of the social right to healthcare : evidence from
England and Germany / by Katharina Bhm.
Description: Farnham, Surrey, UK, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate,
2017. | Series: Social welfare around the world | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015045904 (print) | LCCN 2016015764 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781472479143 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315552071 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social medicineEngland. | Social medicineGermany. |
Right to healthEngland. | Right to healthGermany. | Medical care
England. | Medical careGermany. | HealthSocial aspectsEngland. |
HealthSocial aspectsGermany.
Classification: LCC RA418 .B63 2017 (print) | LCC RA418 (ebook) |
DDC 362.10942dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015045904
ISBN: 978-1-4724-7914-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-55207-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis which I wrote between 2009 and 2014. During this time, I received various help and support from many people without whom I would not have been able to realise this project.
My lasting gratitude goes to Claudia Landwehr , my main supervisor and boss of the research project Decision-making processes and distributive effects, which I worked for during the last six years at Goethe University Frankfurt and Gutenberg University Mainz. It is almost impossible to specify what I learned and received from her. Claudia introduced me to the academic world and helped me to acquire all the knowledge and research skills essential for a political scientist. I most appreciate that she gave me all the leeway I needed, but was always there if I required advice.
Thomas Gerlinger sparked my interest in the topics of health policy and politics when I was a student at Goethe University and taught me all the fundamentals about this policy area. Having served as supervisor for my Diploma thesis, Thomas encouraged me to take up a PhD, which I would never have thought of as a possible career without him. With his immense knowledge about German and European health policies and politics, Thomas was a great support as second supervisor of my PhD. I am very grateful for all the inspiring discussions we had during the time of writing.
A third important academic mentor for me was Julien Le Grand , my supervisor during my visiting scholarship at the Social Policy Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2011. I very much enjoyed our meetings, during which I learned a lot about the huge cultural and institutional differences between our two healthcare systems.
I also wish to thank all my colleagues and friends I worked with during the last six years, of which I can only name some here: my colleagues from the Department of Medical Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt who provided me with helpful comments at the research seminars during the first phase of my dissertation; my colleagues at the Department of Political Science at Goethe University Frankfurt and Gutenberg University Mainz who contributed to a great working atmosphere and with whom I spent many inspiring lunch and coffee breaks; and last but not least, Dorothea Klinnert, Katharina Kieslich and Ralf Gtze who read earlier versions of my PhD manuscript and helped to improve the book with many useful comments.
I thank my parents for always endorsing me to cut my own way and for rendering my studies possible. With all my heart, I dedicate this book to my husband Daniel who lived with me through all the ups and downs of this project. Thank you for encouraging me in times of hopelessness and sharing the happy moments. Your endless love and support in everyday life gave me the strength to write this book.
