Brussels, 28/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - Health spending continues to rise in OECD countries and, if the trend continues, governments will have to raise taxes, cut spending in other areas or make people pay more out of their own pockets, warns the OECD. According to OECD Health Data 2006, health spending between 1998 and 2004 grew faster than GDP in every OECD country except Finland. On average, it accounted for around 7% of GDP in 1990, but reached 8.9% in 2004.
Although the public share of health spending has decreased in countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, it has risen in countries where it had been low, such as Korea, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States. In Korea, for example, the public share of health spending rose from 38% in 1998 to just over 50% in 2004, and in the United States from 40% to 45%. The share picked up by private insurance remains low, at 5% on average. Private health insurance plays a large role for certain population groups in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, however. In France and Canada, it covers 10 to 15% of overall spending, providing optional, enhanced coverage in a public system with universal coverage. Drugs do not cost public spending a great deal in Mexico (public coverage of spending on drugs amounted to 12%), the United States (24%), Poland (37%) or Canada (38%). In other countries, including Austria, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden, more than two-thirds of spending on drugs was paid by public sources. The study is available on the OECD website: http://www.oecd.org