Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40941497›Full record

ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Public Perceptions on the Efficiency of National Healthcare Systems Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Athina Economou

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Athina EconomouDepartment of Economics, University of Thessaly, 38333 Volos, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-5195-8380

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectivesThis study examines individual perceptions of national healthcare system efficiency before and after the COVID-19 pandemic across 18 countries grouped into three clusters (the Anglo-world, Europe, East Asia). This paper aims to identify the demographic, socioeconomic, health-related, and macroeconomic healthcare drivers of public assessments, and explain changes in attitudes between 2011-2013 and 2021-2023.

methodsUsing individual-level data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) for 2011-2013 and 2021-2023, logistic regression models of perceived healthcare inefficiency are estimated. In addition, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition model is adopted in order to decompose the assessment gap between the two periods. Models include a range of individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and national healthcare controls (healthcare expenditure, potential years of life lost).

resultsHealth-related factors, especially self-assessed health and trust in doctors, consistently emerge as predictors of more favourable evaluations across regions and periods. Higher national healthcare expenditure is associated with more positive public views and is the single largest contributor to the improved assessments in 2021-2023. Demographic and socioeconomic variables show smaller regionally and temporally heterogeneous effects. Decomposition indicates that both changes in observed characteristics (notably, expenditure and trust) and unobserved behavioural, cultural, or institutional shifts account for the gap in public healthcare assessments between the two time periods.

conclusionsPublic assessments of healthcare systems are primarily shaped by individual health status, trust in providers, and national spending rather than differential demographic and socioeconomic traits. Therefore, policymakers should couple targeted investments in the healthcare sector in order to address adequately public healthcare needs, and strengthen doctor-patient relationships in order to sustain public support. Future research should focus on disentangling the cultural and behavioural pathways influencing healthcare attitudes.

Indexed as

behavioural traitscultural traitsdecomposition analysisdoctor trusthealthcare efficiencyhealth spending

Identifiers

PMID40941497
PMCPMC12427702

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.