Chapter 2

Figure 7 – Changes in the public share in health expenditure (1970-2004)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
67 68
63
Australia*
74
75
71
70 70
Austria
Canada*
Korea
Finland
France*
*2003 **2004 Forecast
Source: OECD Health Data 2006, June 2006
39
51
74
81
77 77 78
76
76
73
78 78
70
Germany*
1970 1990 2004
82
Japan* , **
43
54 53
Greece**
82 80
72
Ireland
66
87
83
79 76
89
Iceland**
Italy
Luxembourg**
Mexico
Norway
New Zeland
Netherlands**
Poland
Portugal
United Kingdom
Czech Rep.**
Spain**
United States
Sweden**
Switzerland**
Turkey
1.1.5 Expenditure by type of assistance
In spite of a certain convergence in the public share of expenditure, the OECD countries
analysed differ substantially in levels of expenditure for different levels of assistance
(Figure 8). Italy stands out specifically in expenditure on prevention (Figure 9).
However, it should be added that perhaps the greatest problem concerns the way in
which this proportion of expenditure is spent. Although prevention and public health are
increasingly seen as keys to the health outcome, even OECD countries do not assign
many resources to activities aimed at preventing their citizens falling ill. In the 19 countries
for which data for 2003 and 2004 are available, hospital care, outpatient treatment
and health goods were practically the same in the two years 15 .
There is therefore a certain heterogeneity among OECD area countries in levels of expenditure
on different types of health care. In 2004 Italy allocated 42,0% of total health
expenditure to hospital care, about 30% to out-patient care and 21,0% to health goods
and services, moving away from the OECD average (hospital care 35%).
15 The mean does not include Belgium, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark
and the United Kingdom. For Austria, Japan, Luxembourg and Hungary, the data were available for 2002, for Australia
only for 2001. “Health goods” include drugs and other non-durable products, medical equipment and other “medical durables”
(OECD, 2005a).
93 90
40
46
92 92
83
84 82
80
77
[49]
67
62
69 66
59
72
87
84 86
97 97
89
65
79
71
36
40
45
86
90
85
52
58
61
72
CEIS Health Report 2006