ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the typologies of health care systems and how they are used in international comparison. It clarifies the main dimensions and indicators used for constructing and separating types of health care systems and for assigning countries to these types. The chapter then introduces the labels used for these health care system types that are much more heterogeneous than those used in the welfare state debate and provides information about the countries included in the respective types of health care systems. It also reviews the similarities and differences of existing typologies of health care systems, identifying three different types of health care typologies: that mainly follow the tradition of welfare state typologies and concentrate on social rights and distinguish regime types according to their degree of decommodification; typologies that concentrate on actor constellations regarding the organization, financing, and provision of health care services; as well as typologies that focus on institutional design of health care systems.
