[International comparison of health care systems. Overview of state of research].

The article provides an overview on the state of research with regard to a comparative analysis of health care systems. The focus is on the financing, provision, and regulation of health care systems. Finally, some concepts are discussed which aim at the development of a typology of health care systems. It is demonstrated that existing models (for instance, a Beveridge versus a Bismarck type of system or a National Health Service type versus a Social Insurance type) are not sufficient to capture the accelerating change of health care systems in a systematic way. The development of a health care system typology, based on concepts which are discussed in this article, is a promising objective of future research.