Filling a gap in the study of the history of private insurance, this book demonstrates the need to understand how the logic of capitalism has influenced markets, profit-making and commercialisation in the healthcare sector.

Historical analyses of private health insurance companies have primarily concentrated on countries where public coverage is limited, and the market is the primary provider. By contrast, the contributors to this volume explore private health insurance in countries with different historical healthcare patterns. In particular, the book analyses the impact of the formation of large business corporations and financialisation on private health insurance since the late 20th century. Specifically, the book addresses three key questions: Firstly, it seeks to understand this relationship and analyse whether it is a global phenomenon. To this end, it presents six case studies addressing this topic in countries in Northern and Southern Europe and the Americas, which have different historical patterns in the configuration of their public and private healthcare systems. Secondly, it asks whether these historical patterns have converged within a framework of globalisation, financialisation, and the questioning of public healthcare systems since the late 20th century. Finally, it considers the role of states (and public healthcare systems) in this phenomenon and its consequences for healthcare provision.

This book will be of great interest to researchers in the history of financialization, insurance, health and medicine, public policy and state-market relations.

Jerònia Pons-Pons is Full Professor in Economic History at the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain).

Margarita Vilar-Rodríguez is Senior Lecturer in Economic History at the University of A Coruña.