ABSTRACT
The main characteristic of the Luxembourg health system is a split in the provision and financing of prevention and care and treatment. The competence for care and treatment is shared by the Ministry of Health, which supervises the organisation of health services and subsidises the hospital sector, and by the Ministry of Social Security which is responsible for the sickness insurance system. The law on sickness insurance and health reforms stipulates that health care services have to be limited to those which are necessary and useful. Although local authorities share responsibility for the health of the population, activities in the field of prevention and health promotion are left to the national health authorities. Preventive medical examinations of children are performed by (private) paediatricians in maternity hospitals/services and in independent practices or at the child health clinics of the Red Cross.
