Healthcare Expenditure in Spain: As Related to Factors of Economic Growth, Immigration, and Delinquency, (1997-2002)

From the public health perspective, delinquency, economic growth, and immigration are three explicative factors of both population health and the volume of healthcare expenditure.

This work attempts to quantify the relationship between these variables and the level of healthcare expenditure in Spain. With this aim we have used a panel data econometric model calculated by means of the fixed effects procedure. The model relates healthcare expenditure in the Spanish regions with the variables: gross domestic product, immigration, and delinquency.

Results obtained report an increment in healthcare expenditure of 1.09% for each percentage point of increment in GDP. The relationship between number of immigrants included in the census and healthcare expenditure is statistically positive and significant, although with a low coefficient (0.05). However, the relationship between the healthcare expenditure and the delinquency rate is statistically negative and significant.

Previous results lead us to conclude that during the analyzed period healthcare expenditure was almost inelastic regarding immigration growth, although the number of immigrants was becoming a public health issue. Nevertheless, up to the present, the rate of delinquency does not represent a public health problem in Spain.