The book includes contributions from all five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. We see as the objective of the book to provide its audience with the information which makes it possible for professionals and decision makers at the policy level to get a better insight for assessing the Nordic way of going about the financing and organisation of the health services. For each country we have tried to provide the reader with a status quo description supplemented by new initiatives assessed by economists working in the health services in the individual country. The contributions focus on issues which in each separate country are found relevant, and therefore the issues dealt with are different from country to country. Through our work we have realised that there is not such a thing as one "Nordic approach" to the organisation and financing of health care. But in all countries there is a dominant tendency to provide health care through the public sector. The coverage of the population is universal and is financed through taxation. The political emphasis on equity means that private activity is limited. The quest for the holy grail in the form of a more efficient, still public dominated health service without selling out in terms of accessibility has begun, and within recent years a range of initiatives to promote change has taken place.