Portugal: health system review.

The Portuguese population enjoys good health and increasing life expectancy, though at lower levels than other western European countries. All residents in Portugal have access to health care provided by the National Health Service (NHS), financed mainly through taxation. Co-payments have been increasing over time, and the level of cost-sharing is highest for pharmaceutical products. Approximately one-fifth to a quarter of the population enjoys a second (or more) layer of health insurance coverage through health subsystems and voluntary health insurance (VHI). Health care delivery is based on both public and private providers. Public provision is predominant in primary care and hospital care, with a gatekeeping system in place for the former. Pharmaceutical products, diagnostic technologies and private practice by physicians constitute the bulk of private health care provision.