Health Policy in Asia: A Policy Design Approach

Abstract

Coda (“Lessons from COVID”) is clearly written and convincing. Overall, one can appreciate the effort it takes to compare a large set of countries with interviews, fieldwork, and observatory methods. The coverage of countries is impressive and clearly the researchers working for Emanuel made a significant contribution to this comparative effort (Mattei and Del Pino 2021). Having said this, the critique of quantitative ranking data and measurement is naïve, superficial, and broad-brush. One can identify two additional major flaws: first, the analysis lacks any methodological rigor; secondly, there are missing dimensions of comparison that seem important to readers; equity is not discussed, nor are digitalization and artificial intelligence (the US is still leading on these). It is not clear why the author has decided to exclude these key future challenges for comparative health-care systems, which are central to the scholarly debates (Marmor et al. 2009; Mattei 2016). Overall, the book offers an interesting text for readers who wish to learn some basic notions of OECD healthcare systems and compare them across different dimensions. The summarizing tables and concluding discussion deserve attention. However, this investigation does not do justice to the scholarly field of comparative health-care policy and the serious and rigorous analysis of lessons drawing from different countries.