Government, Private Prepaid & Out of Pocket Spending

Global Health Financing Patterns 1995-2014

SELECTED COUNTRIES RANKED  BY TOTAL $ PER PERSON	HEALTH CARE SPENDING 1995-2014
	Total	Percent	Government		Prepaid Private		Out of Pocket		Annual
	$ Per	Of	% of	$ per	% of	$ per	% of	$ per	%
	Person	GDP	Total	Person	Total	Person	Total	Person	Change
USA	9237	16.6%	50%	4600	39%	3584	11%	1053	2.9%
Switzerland	7811	12.8%	60%	4710	15%	1187	25%	1914	3.2%
Luxembourg	7105	6.9%	84%	5961	6%	391	11%	753	3.2%
Norway	6537	10.0%	83%	5432	4%	242	13%	863	3.3%
Austria	5471	11.2%	78%	4267	6%	317	16%	886	2.6%
Sweden	5446	11.8%	85%	4635	1%	33	14%	773	4.0%
Germany	5356	11.2%	77%	4140	9%	503	13%	712	2.6%
Netherlands	5234	10.7%	88%	4627	6%	330	5%	277	3.9%
Denmark	5075	10.8%	85%	4304	2%	96	13%	680	2.8%
Belgium	4751	10.6%	78%	3701	4%	204	18%	846	3.3%
France	4589	11.3%	80%	3667	14%	624	7%	298	2.0%
Canada	4576	10.3%	72%	3299	14%	645	14%	631	2.4%
NewZealand	4050	11.0%	82%	3333	7%	267	11%	446	4.2%
Australia	4032	9.0%	70%	2839	10%	399	20%	794	3.3%
Ireland	4006	7.6%	68%	2708	14%	573	18%	725	4.6%
Iceland	3959	8.7%	82%	3258	0%	0	18%	701	2.3%
Finland	3935	9.3%	78%	3069	3%	122	19%	744	3.1%
UK	3749	9.1%	83%	3115	7%	266	10%	364	3.4%
Italy	3311	9.0%	77%	2563	1%	30	22%	718	1.8%
Spain	3096	9.0%	71%	2201	5%	149	24%	746	2.6%
Portugal	2697	9.3%	67%	1796	6%	159	28%	744	3.3%

Data Selected and Adapted from Global Health Financing: government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending . You may have to register with them, i.e. create a free account with your e-mail address to access this article.

On the face of it the USA has by far the most expensive health care per person ($9327), and the most expensive among the countries listed in terms of percent of GDP spent on health care (16.6%)

While the USA government provides only 50% of the total funding (all other countries listed provide between 60 to 88%) the amount per person from government funding ($4600) is more than the total spending per person of all but nine countries on this list!

The USA is dramatically different from all the other countries in prepaid private spending, e.g. insurance plans. They provide 39% percent of the spending, which is more than twice the percent of the country with the next highest percent, Switzerland.

The dollars per person of USA prepaid ($3584) is more than three times the next runner up (Switzerland again) at $1187. Obviously shifting the USA market from its present emphasis on prepaid private would be a great undertaking.

The USA percentage of total spending paid by out of pocket expenses (11%) is actually lower than 15 out of 20 of the remaining countries in the list.

However because of our high total spending, American out of pocket spending comes in second $1053 after the highest which is again Switzerland ($1914).  

Hopefully Unagidon will give us some help in understanding this data.

Methodology

We estimated national health spending by type of care and by source, including development assistance for health, based on a diverse set of data including program reports, budget data, national estimates, and 964 National Health Accounts. These data represent health spending for 184 countries from 1995 through 2014. We converted these data into a common inflation-adjusted and purchasing power-adjusted currency

-Summary

Government, prepaid private, and OOP spending data were from World Health Organization. These include all outlays for health maintenance, restoration, or enhancement paid for in cash or supplied in kind.

However it excludes indirect health spending, such as lost wages due to illness or transportation costs; spending on informal care, such as care provided by a family member; spending on traditional healers; and illegal so-called black market or under the table transactions, such as bribes.