ABSTRACT
In Austria, similarly to Germany, there is a pronounced attachment to the Bismarckian social insurance. Even the latest pension reform falls back on a 'conservative' 'insurance' principle for the public pension. Health insurance is a compulsory national health insurance with almost complete coverage of the population and with a reasonable degree of public financing versus a limited co-insurance from the patient. The adequacy of the pension scheme is an additional prerequisite for a good dependency insurance. The discussion of old-age insurance has been gaining momentum in Belgium in the 1990s. In Germany, since July 1993 and after a discussion lasting several decades, a definitive proposal for a system of dependency insurance was put on the table and has been accepted. The United Kingdom is characterised as being a typically need-based welfare system, where the priority is given to the in kind provision of needed services. The Swedish welfare state system seems to have undergone a substantial qualitative and quantitative shock.
