Eva Křížová:
The health care system transformation in Czechoslovakia after 1989 – a story to be continued (part 1 and 2).

Abstract

The article describes the health care system transfomation in Czechoslovakia that has been initiated shortly after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The author returns back to the Perestroika health care critics that has accelerated the process of reform. The article presents a broader social and political context and provides details that highlight the importance of marketization in the early transformation period. The article describes the implementation of the mandatory health insurance system including the challenges that the decentralisation in health care has immediately produced. Also, ethical issues and patient rights are mentioned as a part of the overall liberalisation and democratisation. The most recent effort to extend the privatisation in health insurance funds and university hospitals that turned out to fail in 2006 indicates that the political pressure pushing further reforms is permanently present and may re-emerge in a new political or economic situation.

Language: czech

Keywords: Velvet Revolution, health care transformation, health insurance, patients rights, privatisation, population health status, medical ethics