Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Public options and private choices / Alexander S. Preker, Marianne E. Lindner, Dov Chernichovsky, and Onno P. Schellekens -- 2. Health protection : more than financial protection / Xenia B. Scheil-Adlung -- Making health insurance affordable : role of risk equalization / Wynand P.M.M. van de Ven -- 4. Reaching the poor : transfers from rich to poor and from healthy to sick / Sherry Glied and Mark Stabile -- 5. Binding constraints on public funding : prospects for creating fiscal space / Peter S. Heller -- Universal coverage : a global consensus / Guy Carrin, Inke Mathauer, Ke Xu, and David B. Evans -- 7. The French connection in francophone Africa / Yohana Dukhan, Alexander S. Preker and François Diop -- 8. Big bang reforms in anglophone Africa / Caroline Ly, Yohana Dukhan, Frank G. Feeley, Alexander S. Preker, and Chris Atim -- Moving from intent to action in the Middle East and North Africa / Bjorn O. Ekman and Heba A. Elgazzar -- One step, two step tango in Latin America and the Caribbean / Ricardo Bitrán -- 11. Orient express in South, East, and Pacific Asia / William C. Hsiao, Alexis Medina, Caroline Ly, and Yohana Dukhan -- 12. Bismarck's unfinished business in Western Europe / Hans Maarse, Alexander S. Preker, Marianne E. Lindner, and Onno P. Schellekens -- 13. From cradle to grave in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere / Alexander S. Preker and Mark C. Bassett -- 14. Great post-communist experiment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia / Adam Wagstaff and Rodrigo Moreno-Serra -- 15. Political economy of reform / Ashley M. Fox and Michael R. Reich -- 16. Institutions matter / Alexander S. Preker, April Harding, Edit V. Velenyi, Melitta Jacob, Caroline Ly, and Yohana Dukhan -- 17. Accountability and choice / Dov Chernichovsky, Michal Chernichovsky, Jürgen Hohmann, and Bernd Schramm -- 18. Regulatory and supervisory challenges / Hernán L. Fuenzalida-Puelma, Pablo Gottret, Somil Nagpal, and Nicole Tapay -- 19. Implementing change / Hong Wang, Kimberly Switlick-Prose, Christine Ortiz, Catherine Connor, Beatriz Zurita, Chris Atim, and François Diop -- 20. New development paradigm / Onno Schellekens, Jacques van der Gaag, Marianne E. Lindner, and Judith de Groot.