Conclusion

Abstract

During the last few centuries it has been a fixed component of European politics to expand, abolish, merge, shift and fortify boundaries (Flora et al. 1999; Bartolini 2005). This history has inspired scholars to adopt the tools and concepts developed in the course of these studies and apply them to the current developments in the European Union and their impact on the nation state. The present study applied this logic to the social policy sphere and specifically to the example of health insurance, which was also marked by permanent action and reconfiguration: The history of social insurance is a history of constant successive expansion, including an ever wider circle of persons and providing more comprehensive security.¹ However, during recent decades this linear development has been reversed on the one hand and sustained on the other, resulting in multiple social settings. Thus, one should note that the development is anything but linear (Ferrera 2005; Kazepov 2010).