Health care in Denmark is largely financed through local (county and municipal) taxation with integrated funding and provision of health care at the local (county) level.
Denmark spends 9.8% of GDP on healthcare. The life expectancy in Denmark is 78.6 years. There is 1 doctor for every 294 persons in Denmark.[1]
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Most primary care in Denmark is provided by general practitioners, who are paid on a combined capitation and fee-for-service basis in a similar way to those in the United Kingdom. The counties determine the number and location of general practitioners, and their fees and working conditions are negotiated centrally between the physicians' union and the government. The municipal health services provide health visitors, home nurses and school health care.
Hospital care is mainly provided by hospitals owned and run by the counties (or the Copenhagen Hospital Corporation in the Copenhagen area). This is similar to the model in other Scandinavian countries.
There are few private hospital providers, and they account for less than 1% of hospital beds.
The central government plays a relatively limited role in health care in Denmark. Its main functions are to regulate, coordinate and provide advice and its main responsibilities are to establishing goals for national health policy, determining national health legislation, formulating regulation, promoting cooperation between different health care actors, providing guidelines for the health sector, providing health and health care-related information, promoting quality and tackling patient complaints.