At the start of the crisis, some countries introduced measures to provide greater health care protection. For example, Belgium extended eligibility to reduced co-payments and in the United States health insurance was subsidised for those who became unemployed. Many of the reforms have the capacity to improve the efficiency and quality of the health care system over the longer term. Nevertheless, some reforms have attracted considerable critique and have been politically contentious among broad sections of the community as well as parts of industry, as demonstrated by strike actions and threats to stop supplying medical products.