The European Union and Health Services

Reporting on the results and conclusions from a project financed by the European Commission's BIOMED2 program, this volume analyzes the impact of the Single European Market (SEM) on the regulating, financing, and delivery of health services in the member states of the SEM. The report argues that the status of health services as a major sector of states' economies and the SEM are so intertwined and complex that it effectively makes the argument of the subsidiarity of health services untenable. It further suggests the need to recognize that market forces and the European social model have differing objectives and that these differing objectives are likely to lead to significant "system turbulence" in the ability to deliver effective health services. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR