The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7204 p895-899
29 June 2002

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UK health spending getting closer to the average level in Europe

Health spending in the United Kingdom is getting closer to the average for the European Union in relation to gross domestic product (GDP).

Data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that between 1990 and 2000, UK health spending rose from 81 per cent of the EU average to 91.25 per cent. Actual UK spending rose from 6 per cent of GDP in 1990 to 7.3 per cent in 2000. The EU average was 7.2 per cent in 1990 and 8 per cent in 2000. The United States spent 7.2 per cent of GDP on health in 1990 and 13 per cent in 2000.

The OECD said that the main driver for increased spending was modern medical technology. "There has been rapid growth in the use of technology-intensive procedures to treat important diseases and health conditions in nearly all countries. The number of operations, such as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and coronary angioplasty, increased rapidly over the 1990s, particularly in countries that started with low levels of these procedures. None the less, by the end of the 1990s, the rates of CABG and coronary angioplasty in the US were more than double those of the next highest countries. These differences in the frequency of expensive procedures help to explain part of the differences in overall health care spending between the US and other countries."

Despite the extra spending in the US, OECD data show that life expectancy at birth in the US and infant mortality is comparable with the OECD average and below the OECD median.

The OECD points out that health spending is not the only factor that matters to national health. The risk factors to which populations are exposed are highly significant. For example, although the US has the second lowest levels of people in OECD countries who report smoking tobacco daily, it has the highest levels of obesity.