Insuring a population and managing its money require a comprehensive health care financing system. Many issues must be resolved, particularly the roles of the medical profession and its relationship with organizations of laymen in insurance carriers and in government. The spread of society-wide, third-party reimbursement produced conflicts with doctors over admission to practice, work rules, and pay in all countries. Eventually new arrangements were made to settle conflicts of interest and to ensure the harmonious operation of health care services. Policymakers and financial managers came to realize that the medical profession as a whole must be motivated to ensure the success of the system. Recently countries with statutory health insurance and direct public financing created new systems for negotiation and for joint decision making. Even some governments now agree to collaborate with doctors as virtual peers rather than to dictate rules and finance. The only exception is the United States, which will continue to have periodic conflicts until it crafts a joint decision-making system. The evidence comes from the author's first-hand field research over thirty years in the principal developed countries in Europe and North America. He interviewed informants, collected reports, and observed events for these topics primarily in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
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