Public healthcare expenditure in Spain: Measuring the impact of driving factors

Abstract Objectives To assess the impact of demography, health status, death related costs and some macroeconomic variables on the evolution of health expenditure. Methods We follow the methodology used by the Ageing Working Group (AWG) of the European Union to simulate expenditure projections on th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health policy (Amsterdam) 2013-06, Vol.111 (1), p.34-42
Main Authors: Blanco-Moreno, Ángela, Urbanos-Garrido, Rosa M, Thuissard-Vasallo, Israel John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ambulatory Care - economics
Ambulatory Care - statistics & numerical data
Appropriations and expenditures
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Cost
Death
Death related costs
Delivery of Health Care - economics
Delivery of Health Care - utilization
Driving factors
Drug Costs - statistics & numerical data
Economic development
Economic growth
European Union
Expenditure
Female
Forecasting
Health
Health administration
Health care
Health costs
Health expenditure
Health Expenditures - statistics & numerical data
Health Expenditures - trends
Health policy
Health Status
Health surveys
Hospitalization - economics
Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Internal Medicine
Macroeconomics
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Old age
Population
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Sex Factors
Spain
Statistics
Technology
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Objectives To assess the impact of demography, health status, death related costs and some macroeconomic variables on the evolution of health expenditure. Methods We follow the methodology used by the Ageing Working Group (AWG) of the European Union to simulate expenditure projections on the basis of healthcare expenditure profiles for age–sex population groups. We estimate the profiles using data from Hospital Discharges Statistics and the Spanish National Health Survey. Results The differences between the compression of morbidity scenario and the expansion of morbidity scenario range from 1.35 to 1.57 points of GDP in 2060. The overestimation of healthcare expenditure when death related costs are ignored ranges from 0.04 to 0.11 percentage points, depending on the health status hypothesis. Moreover, the effect of death related cost diminishes as health status improves. Conclusions Our results support the fact that intensity of healthcare use, instead of ageing, is the main driver of health expenditure. Thus, the concern of keeping expenditure under control should be focused on factors such as the population's health status, economic growth and development, new technologies and medical progress, and the organization and management of the healthcare system.
ISSN:0168-8510
1872-6054
DOI:10.1016/j.healthpol.2013.03.012