After a drastic drop in 2010, health expenditure remained 'static' in 2011 in the 34 OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), especially in the European ones where the economic crisis continued to have a heavy impact. This is what emerges from the OECD Health Data 2013 report.
While health expenditure grew by an average of almost 5% per year from 2000 to 2009, then there was a notable slowdown in growth, with around +0.5% in 2010 and 2011. Current expenditure on health increased by 0.7% in both years, and preliminary data for some countries suggest a continuation of this trend in 2012. A phenomenon, writes the OECD, due mainly to a collapse in the growth of public health expenditure since 2009, close to zero in both years.
Private healthcare spending slowed down in many countries in 2010 and 2011 in this period, as did household income, which remained stagnant or decreased, although the reduction was more limited. Notably, in Greece, global health expenditure fell by 11% in both 2010 and 2011, after an annual growth rate of more than 5% on average between 2000 and 2009. A decline driven mainly by deep cuts in public spending. Ireland, Iceland and Spain have experienced two consecutive years of negative growth in health expenditure. While Portugal and Italy appear to have delayed cuts in 2010, but then reduced public health spending in 2011.
Pharmaceutical spending is also in the crosshairs of many countries grappling with the crisis.
Many states have increased co-payments for pharmaceuticals, reduced prices, and promoted the use of generic drugs. In 2011 Portugal, Greece and Spain reduced spending on prescription drugs by 20%, 13% and 8% respectively. In Spain, the share of generics more than doubled between 2006 and 2011.
Margherita Lopes – 28 June 2013 – PharmaKronos
