Background: The European Union (EU) Directive on Patients' Rights in Cross-border Healthcare clarified the entitlements to medical care in other EU Member states. However, little is known about whether EU citizens have been travelling or are willing to travel to receive care. This study aimed to measure the determinants of cross-border patient mobility and willingness to travel to receive medical care in the EU, before and after the adoption of the Directive. Methods: We used individual data from the Eurobarometer 210 (2007) and 425 (2014). In the 2 years, 53 439 EU citizens were randomly selected. We performed a logistic regression on the cross-border patient mobility and willingness to travel to other EU countries to use healthcare services as a function of the year (2007 or 2014), adjusting for age, gender, education and country size. Results: In 2007, 3.3% of citizens reported cross-border mobility and 4.6% in 2014. The odds of cross-border patients' mobility were 11% higher in 2014, compared with 2007 [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.21]. Also, mobility was 19% higher in males (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.08-1.30) and 20% higher amongst the more educated (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09-1.31). However, the odds decreased 11% per decade of age (OR 0.89 per decade, 95% CI 0.85-0.93) and country size. In 2014, the willingness to travel decreased by 20% compared with 2007. Conclusions: Cross-border patient mobility is more likely amongst the younger, the more educated and those from smaller countries. The directive does not seem to have promoted mobility at a large scale among the neediest citizens. ; publishersversion ; published
COVID-19 is the most significant global crisis of any of our lifetimes. The numbers have been stupefying, whether of infection and mortality, the scale of public health measures, or the economic consequences of shutdown. Coronavirus Politics identifies key threads in the global comparative discussion that continue to shed light on COVID-19 and shape debates about what it means for scholarship in health and comparative politics. Editors Scott L. Greer, Elizabeth J. King, Elize Massard da Fonseca, and André Peralta-Santos bring together over 30 authors versed in politics and the health issues in order to understand the health policy decisions, the public health interventions, the social policy decisions, their interactions, and the reasons. The book's coverage is global, with a wide range of key and exemplary countries, and contains a mixture of comparative, thematic, and templated country studies. All go beyond reporting and monitoring to develop explanations that draw on the authors' expertise while engaging in structured conversations across the book.
Introduction : explaining pandemic response / Scott L. Greet, Elizabeth J. King, and Elize Massard da Fonseca -- Playing politics : the World Health Organization's response to COVID-19 / Matthew M. Kavanagh, Renu Singh, and Mara Pillinger -- State responses to the COVID-19 pandemic : governance, surveillance, coercion, and social policy / Holly Jarman -- China's Leninst response to COVID-19 : from information repression to total mobilization / Victor C. Shih -- Public policy and learning from SARS : explaining COVID-19 in Hong Kong / John P. Burns -- Institutions matter in fighting COVID-19 : public health, social policies, and the control tower in South Korea / June Park -- Unified, preventive, low-cost government respnse to COVID-19 in Việt Nam / Emma Willoughby -- Fighting COVID-19 in Japan : a success story? / Takashi Nagata, Akihito Hagihara, Alan Kawarai Lefor, Ryozo Matsuda, and Monika Steffen -- Singapore's response to COVID-19 : an explosion of cases despite being a "gold standard" / Rebecca Wai -- India's response to COVID-19 / Minakshi Raj -- COVID-19 response in Central Asia : a cautionary tale / Pauline Jones and Elizabeth J. King -- COVID-19 in the United Kingdom : how austerity and a loss of state capacity undermined the crisis response / Gemma A. Williams, Selina Rajan, and Jonathan D. Cylus -- The European Union confronts COVID-19 : another European rescue of the nation-state? / Eleanor Brooks, Anniek de Ruijter, and Scott L. Greer -- Denmark's response to COVID-19 : a participatory approach to policy innovation / Darius Ornston -- France's multidimensional COVID-19 response : ad hoc committees and the sidelining of public health agencies / Sara D. Rozenblum -- Political resonance in Austria's coronavirus crisis management / Margitta Mätzke -- Three approaches to handling the COVID crisis in federal countries : Germany, Austria, and Switzerland / Thomas Czypionka and Miriam Reiss -- Italy's response to COVID-19 / Michelle Falkenbach and Manuela Caiani -- Spain's reesponse to COVID-19 / Kenneth A. Dubin -- A tale of two pandemics in three countries : Portugal, Spain, and Italy -- André Peralta-Santos, Luis Saboga-Nunes, and Pedro C. Magahlães -- Greece at the time of COVID-19 : caught between Scylla and Charybdis / Elena Petelos, Dimitra Lingri, and Christos Lionis -- COVID-19 in Turkey : public health centralism / Saime Özçürümez -- COVID-19 in Central and Eastern Europe : focus on Czechia, Hungary, and Bulgaria / Olga Löblová, Julie Rone, and Endre Borbáth -- COVID-19 in the Russian Federation : government control during the epidemic / Elizabeth J. King and Victoria I. Dudina -- The politics and policy of Canada's COVID-19 response / Patrick Fafard, Adèle Cassola, Margaret MacAulay, and Michèle Palkovits -- Anatomy of a failure : COVID-19 in the United States / Phillip M. SInger, Charley E. Willison, N'dea Moore-Petinak, and Scott L. Greer -- COVID-19 in Brazil : presidential denialism and the subnational government's response / Elize Massard da Fonseca, Nicoli Nattrass, Luísa Bolaffi Arantes, and Francisco Inácio Bastos -- Colombia's response to COVID-19 : pragmatic command, social contention, and political challenges / Claudia Acosta, Mónica Uribe-Gómez, and Durfari Velandia-Naranjo -- The politics of the COVID-19 pandemic response in Chile / Claudio A. Méndez -- Pandemic amid political crisis : Malawi's experience with and response to COVID-19 / Kim Yi Dionne, Boniface Dulani, and Sara E. Fischer -- Adapting COVID-19 containment in Africa : lessons from Tanzania / Thespina (Nina) Yamanis, Ruth Carlitz, and Henry A. Mollel -- Confronting legacies and charting a new course? : the politics of coronavirus response in South Africa / Joseph Harris -- Comparative analysis of COVID-19 transmission and mortality in select African countries / Kanayo K. Ogujiuba and Uviwe Binase -- Conclusion / Scott L. Greer, Elize Massard da Fonseca, and Elizabeth J. King.
