In this analysis, we conduct an investigation of the determinants of the level of health care expenditures in 12 OECD countries, including the U.S.A., by looking not only at national income, but at other demographic and exogenous factors that may influence health care spending. Panel analysis is used to analyze the determinants of health care expenditures in each group of countries in order to assess the macroeconomic efficiency of each, with a look at the effects of previous health care reform on health care cost containment. Using newly published OECD data, which currently is being assembled, models will be estimated for the years 1960-1997. An advantage of the panel techniques is that the methodology allows us to control for potential heterogeneity in the data. Since the data are not always comparable across countries, the 12 OECD countries under study are grouped into three categories as follows, based on similarity of their forms of provision and financing of health care: voluntary insurance-based (Switzerland and the United States), tax-based (U.K., Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden), and social insurance-based (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and France). Particular emphasis will be given to institutional differences among those countries, an aspect that has not been neglected in the literature. This paper builds upon and extends earlier work by Kanavos on methodology and quantitative analysis and yields conclusions that may contradict earlier evidence.
Learning Objectives: 1)The attenders will learn how health care expenditures are affected by institutional arrangements for funding and providing health care, and how using panel techniques can be applied in the area of health care research. 2)The attenders will be able to describe the effects of different countries' institutional arrangements as they apply to funding and promoting health care. 3)At the conclusion of the session, the attenders will be able to: a- list the characteristics of the main systems for funding heatlh care. b- describe the differences among the main systems regarding key economic, demographic, and political variables and the effecs of those variables on health care expenditures. c- describe how the key determinants of health care expenditures have changed over time. d- assess the sensitivity of the model results to the different techniques of estimation
Keywords: Healthcare Costs, International Systems
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: 12 OECD countries:
U.S.A,
U.K.,
France,
Sweden,
Netherlands,
Denmark,
Spain,
Portugal,
Switzerland,
Germany,
Ausria,
and Belgium
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.