With diverse and diversifying populations, countries encounter political and policy challenges. Diverse policies and the politics of diversity can be addressed in various contexts including differences in size and composition of populations, changes of régime, migrations of people, multiculturalism, and strategies for delivering services and for raising revenue. Policymakers seek to devise appropriate arrangements for financing and providing health care services as well as collective public health.

Worldwide there is great variety in the mix of public and private responsibilities for the funding, contracting and provision of health care services. Variety exists despite similarities in policy goals (like providing access to good quality health care for all residents at reasonable cost, improving the general health of people, and protecting their incomes) as well as policy challenges and programmatic change. To complicate matters, borders are unclear between traditional and western medicine, or between formal and informal care.

Papers are invited that engage in comparative analysis of selected health systems (that is, more than one country or else multiple units within one country) and that analyze common trends as well as varied strategies and policy outcomes. Special emphasis will be given to the issue of raising revenue through health insurance in comparative contexts.

The Panel is being organized in cooperation with the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee on "Comparative Health Policy”.