Eurohealth: health behaviours and incentives

Abstract

The last decade has seen an increasing interest in some countries of the potential of using behavioural science to inform our understanding and influence policy design. This issue of Eurohealth looks at the fashionable area of applying the principles of behavioural science to nudge populations towards better health and well-being; why health behaviours matter and their role within the persistence and widening of health inequalities in modern welfare states; attempts to disentangle the salient issues by identifying four goals and 10 key dimensions ofincentive programmes; a unique perspective of solidarity, which argues that by focusing on what people have in common rather than what sets them apart, solidarity is particularly relevant and compatible with “nudging” practices; and the current debate in the Netherlands on using incentives to influence lifestyle and promotebetter health, and whether or not health insurance premiums should be differentiated to take into account people’s unhealthy lifestyle choices. The rest of this issue contains Eurohealth International – Political strategies in public health; Eurohealth Systems and Policies – Pharmaceutical cost-containment (‎Poland, Hungary)‎; Joint hospital procurement (‎Croatia)‎; and Eurohealth Monitor.