Since the 1950s, high-income countries have experienced an immense increase in life expectancy. Previous studies have largely assessed how individual-level factors influence longevity, whereas cumulative dis/advantage theory (CDA) has in general been used to explain the relationship between individual resources and mortality in relation to aging. Rare studies have investigated the institutional impact on mortality within the framework of CDA. The research field is thus lacking studies that compare more than a handful of countries over a longer period. This study attempts to align CDA and comparative welfare state research by analysing the relationship between sickness benefits and life expectancy at age 65, comparing fifteen affluent countries over the period 1960 to 2015. The found results demonstrate that countries with higher benefit coverage have a larger increase in life expectancy, among both men and women. The effect of income replacement was mixed and appear to depend on the share of population covered by sickness benefits. This institutional interplay between coverage and income replacement supports previous insights about the beneficial effects of universal programs on population health. 

It is well researched that people with lower education are more likely to become ill and die at earlier age than those who are well educated. We, however know much less about the mechanisms which bring this about, especially the contextual factors. One way to obtain new information is to compare countries with similar features and focus on institutional factors such as the welfare state's organization. For health outcomes, the framework of the healthcare sector is highly relevant, but is has thus only been explored to a limited extent by comparative welfare state research. The present study places the main explanatory variable at the contextual level, particularly the institutional structure of the welfare state. The role of primary care quality for moderating the relationship between education and self-rated health will be empirically tested by comparing 24 affluent countries. Data from the European Social Survey (ESS) round 1 to 9, years 2002 to 2018, is pooled and matched with data on primary care quality from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The results lend support to the contention that primary care quality reduces the educational gradient in health and that the moderating effect of primary care depends on age. Respondents with low education were shown to benefit from improved primary care quality already as young adults, while for respondents with high education, such an effect is found only among middle-aged and older adults. 

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between cash and care in the welfare state by analysing a specific mortality cause, cerebrovascular disease, in relation to health care and sickness benefits. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Health Statistics and the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset2 (CWED2) are pooled for the time period 1980–2011. Fourteen countries are analysed by Prais-Winsten regression with panel correct standard errors, using fixed effect models. The results show that health care and sickness benefits have a combined effect on reducing mortality. The results indicate that the level of sickness benefits to some extent modifies the mortality. Holding health-care provision at a fixed level, measured as medication and technology, mortality is reduced when increasing the level of sickness benefits. The results are quite similar for men and women.