Is there a Southern European Healthcare Model?

Is there a typically Southern European model of health care? To answer this question it is not enough to find similarities between the Greek, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese health systems: it is also necessary that these similarities be in some way distinctive. For this reason I compare these Southern European countries with other western European countries, in particular those which, like the southern countries, have adopted a national health service. Notwithstanding the eccentricities of the Greek case, this comparison shows how the four healthcare systems share certain characteristics which effectively distinguish them from their Northern European counterparts. These traits are particularly evident in the birth of the national health service, the legacy of the previous health insurance system, the composition of healthcare costs, the rule of private hospitals, the entitlements of patients, and patients' level of satisfaction with the healthcare system.