On Health Expenditure and Income Inequality

Author(s):  
Orhan Torul

This study investigates the relationship between health care expenditure and income inequality empirically. Using data from a large panel of countries covering a sizeable period of time, how level and composition of health care expenditures correlate with income inequality is studied via the panel data fixed effects estimation methodology. These estimations yield several robust findings. First, there is a significant positive correlation between income inequality and reliance on private resources for health care financing. Second, there exists a significant negative correlation between health care expenditure per capita and income inequality. Third, there is a significant negative correlation between income inequality and health care expenditure as a share of GDP. Next, this study analyzes a select group of well-established democracies with developed economies to detect if health expenditure and income inequality variables correlate with public beliefs and preferences. Empirical analyses reveal that indeed belief and preferences accord well with policy choices.

Author(s):  
Ampon-Wireko Sabina ◽  
Zhou Lulin ◽  
Asante Antwi Henry ◽  
Wireko Brobby Ebenezer

<strong>Objectives:</strong> The unceasing increase of health care expenditures is a very crucial decision to take by most governments and has drawn the attention of scholars and policy makers to research and rethink about the effects on health status and economic growth. However, from open and available literature, it can be established that not much studies have considered this linkage. The study aims to bring to light and review the current state-of-art of all previous studies regarding the interplay between health spending, health outcome and economic growth within both high and middle-income countries.</p> <p><strong>Methods</strong><strong>: </strong>An electronic exploration was carried out in the academic databases below: Emerald, Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer, web of Science additionally JSTOR in English language between the period 1990 to 2018. </p> <p><strong>Results:</strong>  The results revealed mixed conclusion between health expenditure and population health. The findings of healthcare expenditure and economic growth shows a positive relationship mostly in the developed nations The study again found that better health status improves economic growth.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The outcome of the study appeared to foster more confusion as findings regarding association between health expenditure and health outcome have not been consistent. The research findings revealed   that there is still much to be done for scholars to build a strong theoretical base, on these connections to for an effective decision-making.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imlak Shaikh ◽  
Shabda Singh

The aim of this study is to analyze health care expenditures in seven South Asian countries, namely, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The data are taken for 19 years from 1995 to 2013. We specifically examine the out-of-pocket health care expenditure in these countries. Per capita health expenditure differences have been compared. We also develop regression model for out-of-pocket expenditure with the factors affecting it, that is, per capita health expenditure, household final consumption expenditure and public health expenditure. Logarithm values of out-of-pocket expenditure have also been used to develop a separate log model for the same. The results suggest that Maldives has the highest per capita health expenditure, while out-of-pocket health expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure on health is the highest for India. The key determinant of out-of-pocket expenditures is the final household expenditures as the percentage of GDP.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
UNTO HÄKKINEN ◽  
PEKKA MARTIKAINEN ◽  
ANJA NORO ◽  
ELINA NIHTILÄ ◽  
MIKKO PELTOLA

AbstractThis study revisits the debate on the ‘red herring’, i.e. the claim that population aging will not have a significant impact on health care expenditure (HCE), using a Finnish data set. We decompose HCE into several components and include both survivors and deceased individuals into the analyses. We also compare the predictions of health expenditure based on a model that takes into account the proximity to death with the predictions of a naïve model, which includes only age and gender and their interactions. We extend our analysis to include income as an explanatory variable. According to our results, total expenditure on health care and care of elderly people increases with age but the relationship is not as clear as is usually assumed when a naïve model is used in health expenditure projections. Among individuals not in long-term care, we found a clear positive relationship between expenditure and age only for health centre and psychiatric inpatient care. In somatic care and prescribed drugs, the expenditure clearly decreased with age among deceased individuals. Our results emphasize that even in the future, health care expenditure might be driven more by changes in the propensity to move into long-term care and medical technology than age and gender alone, as often claimed in public discussion. We do not find any strong positive associations between income and expenditure for most non-LTC categories of health care utilization. Income was positively related to expenditure on prescribed medicines, in which cost-sharing between the state and the individual is relatively high. Overall, our results indicate that the future expenditure is more likely to be determined by health policy actions than inevitable trends in the demographic composition of the population.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Sami Khan

Pakistan is facing an exorbitant burden of Non-communicable diseases among which Cardiovascular diseases are the most prominent which has not only caused mortality but also posed a big threat on weakened economy and health care system of the country. Amidst of this growing crisis, Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors emerge as a ray of hope by reducing simultaneously the complication and health care expenditure associated with the management of this major mortality-bringing Non-communicable disease. SGLT2 inhibitors, including Dapagliflozin and Empagliflozin, are evidence-based standardized novel anti-diabetic agents tested in cardiovascular outcome trials namely DAPA-HF and EMPEROR-Reduced, when added to standard care in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction, provides breakthrough heart failure outcomes and also addresses massive health care expenditures. This novel finding provides an impetus to promote its beneficial effects among health care providers and early implementation. Continuous....


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun-Cheol Song ◽  
Chang-Yup Kim ◽  
Young-Jeon Shin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred EBOH ◽  
Steve METIBOBA

Abstract Background: As a way of tackling child mortality, many countries in the world depend on their respective health-care system. But governments of most countries in Africa are yet to provide robust funding of their health-care systems as many people still depend on the out-of-pocket payment to receive health services. Against this backdrop, this study used annual panel data to assess the effect of health-care expenditure and immunisation on the under-five mortality rate in 30 selected African countries for the period 2000-2017. Methods: Multiple regression technique was adopted for the data analysis and the robust fixed regression estimator was preferred to the random effects as determined by Hausman test.Results: The findings indicated that domestic government general health expenditure had a significant negative effect on the under-five mortality rate. However, the effect of domestic private health expenditure on under-five mortality was not significant while external health expenditure had a significant negative effect on under-five mortality rate. The impact of diphtheria immunisation on under-five mortality was significant. Conclusions: Except domestic private health expenditure, government and external forms of health expenditure coupled with diphtheria immunisation were significant factors for the reduction of the under-five mortality in the selected countries.


Author(s):  
David R. Axon ◽  
Jonathan Chien ◽  
Hanh Dinh

This cross-sectional study included a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged ≥50 years with self-reported pain in the past 4 weeks from the 2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Adjusted linear regression analyses accounted for the complex survey design and assessed differences in several types of annual health care expenditures between individuals who reported frequent exercise (≥30 min of moderate–vigorous intensity physical activity ≥5 times per week) and those who did not. Approximately 23,940,144 of 56,979,267 older U.S. adults with pain reported frequent exercise. In adjusted analyses, individuals who reported frequent exercise had 15% lower annual prescription medication expenditures compared with those who did not report frequent exercise (p = .007). There were no statistical differences between frequent exercise status for other health care expenditure types (p > .05). In conclusion, adjusted annual prescription medication expenditures were 15% lower among older U.S. adults with pain who reported frequent exercise versus those who did not.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 1131-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan P. Mackenbach ◽  
José Rubio Valverde ◽  
Matthias Bopp ◽  
Henrik Brønnum-Hansen ◽  
Giuseppe Costa ◽  
...  

AbstractSocioeconomic inequalities in mortality are a challenge for public health around the world, but appear to be resistant to policy-making. We aimed to identify European countries which have been more successful than others in narrowing inequalities in mortality, and the factors associated with narrowing inequalities. We collected and harmonised mortality data by educational level in 15 European countries over the last 25 years, and quantified changes in inequalities in mortality using a range of measures capturing different perspectives on inequality (e.g., ‘relative’ and ‘absolute’ inequalities, inequalities in ‘attainment’ and ‘shortfall’). We determined which causes of death contributed to narrowing of inequalities, and conducted country- and period-fixed effects analyses to assess which country-level factors were associated with narrowing of inequalities in mortality. Mortality among the low educated has declined rapidly in all European countries, and a narrowing of absolute, but not relative inequalities was seen in many countries. Best performers were Austria, Italy (Turin) and Switzerland among men, and Spain (Barcelona), England and Wales, and Austria among women. Ischemic heart disease, smoking-related causes (men) and amenable causes often contributed to narrowing inequalities. Trends in income inequality, level of democracy and smoking were associated with widening inequalities, but rising health care expenditure was associated with narrowing inequalities. Trends in inequalities in mortality have not been as unfavourable as often claimed. Our results suggest that health care expansion has counteracted the inequalities widening effect of other influences.


SummaryRelevant publications discuss the relation between the demographic process and per-capita health care expenditures (HCE) in a controversial manner. This concerns theory as well as the results of empirical research. Therefore, this paper discusses the influence of an ageing population on HCE in a theoretical framework. It breaks down HCE into three components: time-to-death, morbidity and age structure. The components are analysed theoretically and the results are contrasted with the results of empirical surveys. The paper closes with a discussion whether to include costs of dying and changing morbidity explicitly into forecasting future HCE or not.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-187
Author(s):  
Ermanno Attanasio

Pharmaceutical products are relevant for their contribution to the medicine progress and in health peoples improvement, altough this evidence goes back to the forthy years with the reduction in mortality, morbidity and hospitalisation rates. The ambivalence of drugs, both remedy and poison, needs a careful assessment of risks and benefits. Primitive estimates of health treatments evaluation occurred in the human history but the modern concept of evaluation in health care derived from cost-benefit analysis (welfare economics) and technology assessment. Then a new discipline, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research, developed with the contribution of health economics, clinical medicine, pharmacology, statistics and epidemiology. Pharmaceutical products are also relevant because of their responsability of health expenditure growth. From 1992, in Italy, several legislative actions were made to face up the pharmaceutical expenditure. The most important one (L. 537/1993) achieved the maximum decrease of 16,8%, in 1994, and modified radically the pharmaceutical policy. Nevertheless, in the following six years the pharmaceutical expenditure grew more than 93%. New actions were made fixing the pharmaceutical expenditure to 13% of health expenditure, any excess being charged to Regions. In the new version for the current year, the excesses will be paid-back by pharmaceutical companies (60%) and Regions (40%). Furtherly, the creation of Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco increases the relevance of cost-effectiveness analyses for drugs reimbursement. However, pharmacoeconomic evaluations have still many methodological problems. Economic variables should be treated in the same manner of biomedical or epidemiological data, that is, by confidence intervals and sample sizes. There would be an “economic significance” besides to clinical and statistical ones. In this way, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research would be able to add rationality to health care expenditure.


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