ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the historical background of the Belgian health care system while explains how the system works in terms of the decision-making process, statutory insurance and the supply and financing of medical care. It deals with the various reforms of the system, focusing initially on those aimed at increasing the financial responsibility of its various stakeholders. The chapter outlines how the government has attempted to make sickness funds financially accountable through the progressive introduction of a risk-adjustment formula, which the sickness funds are required to incorporate into their revenue structure. It provides an overview of the Belgian government's cost-containment measures. Industrialization brought with it new forms of poverty which gave birth to health insurance associations, trade unions and political organizations drawn from the labour movement. The part of the health care budget allocated by the federal government is cash-limited, and includes the financing of both capital investment and health insurance.
