Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems
Bridging Health and Finance Perspectives
The health systems we enjoy today, and expected medical advances in the future, will be difficult to finance from public resources without major reforms. Public health spending in OECD countries has grown rapidly over most of the last half century. These spending increases have contributed to important progress in population health: for example, life expectancy at birth has increased, rising on average by ten years since 1970. The challenge now is to sustain and enhance these achievements in a context of tight fiscal constraints in many countries combined with upward pressure on health spending from factors such as new technological advances and demographic changes. Finding policies that can make health spending more sustainable without compromising important achievements in access and quality requires effective co-operation between health and finance ministries. Sound governance and co-ordination mechanisms are therefore essential to ensure effective policy choices. Prepared by both public finance and health experts, this report provides a unique detailed overview of institutional frameworks for financing health care in OECD countries. One of the main features of this book is a comprehensive mapping of budgeting practices and governance structure in health across OECD countries.
Preface
Spending on health has outpaced economic growth in most OECD countries for many decades. The question of the fiscal sustainability of health systems has been brought to the top of many political agendas. Government bureaucracies are struggling with how to meet such large fiscal challenges. Both Ministries of Health and Finance are at the forefront of these challenges. Ministries of Finance strive to create effective budgetary discipline and manage budgetary envelopes. Ministries of Health face the huge task of keeping their ageing populations healthy whilst improving the efficiency of their healthcare delivery systems.
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