Consumers enter the political stage? The modernization of health care in Britain and Germany

New governance practices associated with the modernization of health systems within Europe focus on equipping health consumers with more information and power in their interactions with clinicians. This article uses material on health care reform in Britain and Germany to highlight ways in which consumerism is refracted through different institutional histories and current political projects. These give rise to different inflections on the meaning of consumerism, including the different associations of `choice', and to different forms of consumer involvement as `stakeholders' in health care systems.

[1]  Rainer Sauerborn,et al.  One hundred and eighteen years of the German health insurance system: are there any lessons for middle- and low-income countries? , 2002, Social science & medicine.

[2]  P. Allen,et al.  What are 'third way' governments learning? Health care consumers and quality in England and Germany. , 2006, Health policy.

[3]  Clarke John,et al.  Consumerism and the reform of public services: inequalities and instabilities , 2005 .

[4]  D. Lupton.  Consumerism, reflexivity and the medical encounter. , 1997, Social science & medicine.

[5]  M. Moran.  Governing the Health Care State , 1999 .

[6]  T. Garvin,et al.  Moving from information transfer to information exchange in health and health care. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[7]  S. Harrison.  THE POLITICS OF EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM , 1998 .

[8]  Alicia O'Cathain,et al.  Does NHS Direct empower patients? , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[9]  J. Newman,et al.  Discriminating Customers, Responsible Patients, Empowered Users: Consumerism and the Modernisation of Health Care , 2006, Journal of Social Policy.

[10]  M. Wetherell,et al.  Opening the box: evaluating the Citizens Council of NICE: report prepared for the National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Methodology, NHS Research and Development Programme , 2005 .

[11]  E. Kuhlmann.  Traces of Doubt and Sources of Trust , 2006 .

[12]  Elizabeth Smith.  Citizens at the Centre: Deliberative Participation in Healthcare Decisions , 2007 .

[13]  C. Normand,et al.  Changing organisations: a study of the context and processes of mergers of health care providers in England. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[14]  I. Sanderson,et al.  Getting evidence into practice , 1998 .

[15]  Angela Coulter,et al.  The European Patient Of The Future , 2003 .

[16]  M. Calnan,et al.  Health, Medicine and Society: Key Theories, Future Agendas , 2000 .

[17]  Alan Petersen,et al.  Consuming Health: the commodification of health care , 2002 .

[18]  M. Saks,et al.  Regulating the Health Professions , 2003 .

[19]  M. Jefferys.  Regulating British medicine: the General Medical Council , 1993 .

[20]  M. Brommels.  Modernising health care: reinventing professions, the state and the public , 2008, International Journal of Integrated Care.

[21]  J. Allsop,et al.  Speaking for Patients and Carers , 2005 .

[22]  C. Ham,et al.  Health Policy in Britain , 1982 .

[23]  Martin McKee,et al.  Health Care Reform: Learning from International Experience , 1997 .

[24]  Maggie Mort,et al.  Which champions, which people? Public and user involvement in health care. , 1998 .

[25]  J. Newman,et al.  WHAT'S IN A NAME? , 2007 .

[26]  Martin McKee,et al.  Health care systems in transition , 2002 .

[27]  R. Thomson.  Consuming Health – The Commodification of Health Care , 2002 .

[28]  H. M. van de Bovenkamp.  Creating citizen-consumers: Changing publics and changing public services , 2009 .

[29]  I. Sanderson.  Getting Evidence into Practice , 2004 .

[30]  Nikolas Rose,et al.  Powers of Freedom: Advanced liberalism , 1999 .

[31]  Graeme Salaman,et al.  THE CULT[URE] OF THE CUSTOMER , 1992 .

[32]  P. Higgs,et al.  Modernity, Medicine and Health , 2005 .

[33]  M. Saks.  Professions and the Public Interest: Medical Power, Altruism and Alternative Medicine , 1994 .

[34]  J. Allsop,et al.  Speaking for Patients and Carers: Health Consumer Groups and the Policy Process , 2004 .

[35]  M. Sullivan,et al.  The new subjective medicine: taking the patient's point of view on health care and health. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[36]  E. Kuhlmann.  Modernising health care: Reinventing professions, the state and the public , 2006 .

[37]  M. Calnan,et al.  Public trust in health care: the system or the doctor? , 2004, Quality and Safety in Health Care.

[38]  Governing Medicine: Theory and Practice , 2004 .

[39]  John Clarke,et al.  Creating Citizen-Consumers: Changing Publics and Changing Public Services , 2007 .

[40]  Robert H. Blank,et al.  Comparative Health Policy , 2004 .