The economic crises of the 1970s marked the end of the 'Golden Age' of the welfare state and triggered a broad range of cost containment measures in OECD countries. In the healthcare sector, cost containment is difficult to execute as the legitimacy of healthcare systems is based on their ability to provide satisfactory healthcare. Hence, reforms have gone beyond mere retrenchment and the divergent healthcare systems of the heydays of the welfare state, which were characterized by the distinct role of the state in financing, providing and regulating healthcare, have now changed profoundly....