The recession has put a dent in global health spending around the world. In a new report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), healthcare outlays for the OECD’s 34 member countries grew an average of 5 percent year-to-year from 2000 to 2009, but growth has now slipped to around 0.5 percent.
Greece saw a more than 10 percent decline in healthcare spending, while Ireland, Iceland, Estonia, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and the Czech Republic also were in negative territory. Although showing some growth, both Italy and Austria also fell below the OECD’s overall 0.5 percent average growth rate. Israel, Japan, China and South Korea were the exceptions, each seeing growth rates since 2009 exceeding 5 percent in real terms.
Health spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also declined slightly in most countries, averaging around 9.3 percent of GDP for the most recent reported period.
The OECD attributes the drop in healthcare spending to a collapse in the growth of government health spending. Private health spending also slowed during the reported period, mainly reflecting flat or decreased household incomes.
Pharmaceutical spending has been a prime target for governments. Many countries have increased cost sharing for pharmaceuticals, reduced prices and coverage and promoted the use of generics. More than three-fourths of OECD countries also have decided to cut spending on prevention and public health, although these represent a small share of their overall health budgets.
Many governments also have tried to contain the growth in hospital spending, which is one of the biggest contributors to healthcare expense, by cutting wages, reducing hospital staff and beds and increasing co-payments for patients.
In the U.S., healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP remains at 17.7 percent, the highest in the world.