Impact of the economic crisis on healthcare resources: An European approach

Abstract

BackgroundThe financial and economic crisis period that prevailed along the first decade of 2000 was a global phenomenon, during which healthcare systems were under the risk of an increasing pressure, mainly due to a loss of operational financial resources and potential increases in the healthcare demand.ObjectiveThis research intends to evaluate the impact of the crisis, taking into consideration the healthcare financing systems and healthcare resources utilization in Europe.Study design and settingWe considered as our sample the financial and healthcare data regarding the 27 European member states, from 2000 until 2009. The data were collected from Eurostat database (2011) and OECD database (2010), respectively. We perform a descriptive analysis, a correlation analysis, and a multivariate linear analysis by ordinary least squares.ResultsWe found that during economic crisis there was an increase in the total pharmaceutical expenditure as a percentage of total healthcare expenditure, and in the number of medical consultations per capita. Along with a rise of the unemployment rate, there was a decrease of total healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP.ConclusionDuring the crisis we found a decrease in healthcare expenditure and an increase in pharmaceutical expenditure and in the number of medical consultations. The results were sensitive to the financial healthcare system, except for healthcare expenditure. During crisis, social health insurance systems promote the use of healthcare resources at a higher price – due to a rise in pharmaceutical expenditure and number of medical consultations – than general taxation ones.