ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION In the 29 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, health care financing has become one of the major fiscal concerns of policymakers as health care expenditures became one of several major expenditure categories of the government budget, particularly when most OECD countries have struggled to control their budget deficits. This chapter focuses on health care financing in the OECD countries along two dimensions: (a) revenue sources and overall expenditures for health care, and (b) the mechanisms for reimbursement of hospitals and physicians. However, before addressing the above issues, difficulties and limitations of available health data will be discussed.
