Public Health Care Financing and the Costs of Cancer Care: A Cross-National Analysis

Ana Voda,Ionel Bostan

doi:10.3390/cancers10040117

Abstract

Expenditure and financing aspects in the healthcare system in general, and in cancer care in particular, are subjects of increasing concern to the medical community. Nowadays, it is imperative for the healthcare system to respond to the challenge of universal access to quality healthcare, by measuring the financial resources within the healthcare sector. The purpose of this review is to highlight the major gaps in the healthcare expenditures for all types of care, as well as on cancer and anti-cancer drugs across 28 European Union member states. The indicators taken into account are divided into two major groups: (1) healthcare expenditures for all types of care, and (2) healthcare expenditures on cancer and anti-cancer drugs. The programs used for our analysis are SPSS Statistics V20.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA) and Stat World Explorer. The overall picture confirms that there are considerable disparities between the 28 countries in relation to their expenditures on health. The trend in public expenditures for all types of care, compared to the share of healthcare expenditures as a percentage of the GDP, shows the increase of health expenses between 2010 and 2014, but a lower rise compared to the total GDP increase. Healthcare expenditure on cancer (%THE) is rather low, despite the high cost associated with anti-cancer drugs. New treatments and drugs development will be increasingly difficult to achieve if the share devoted to cancer does not increase, and the lack of funds may act as a barrier in receiving high-quality care.

Highlights

In the recent years, due to innovative technologies, continuous personnel development of healthcare professionals, treatment patterns, and changing diagnostics, cancer-related expenditures have risen, and are expected to rise faster than any other related area of healthcare [1]
The findings reveal that the average total healthcare expenditure for cancer patients was 68% higher in the last month and 71% higher in the last 6 months than non-cancer patients
Regression analysis and analysis of variance end of life for older persons, especially aged ≥ 90 years differs from that of younger generations public expenditure was lower for oldest persons as for younger generation but closely related to the place of death

Summary

Introduction

Due to innovative technologies, continuous personnel development of healthcare professionals, treatment patterns, and changing diagnostics, cancer-related expenditures have risen, and are expected to rise faster than any other related area of healthcare [1]. Society of Clinical Oncology acknowledged the rising economic burden of cancer patients compared with other chronic illnesses [2]. Report (2016) showed a similar scenario: after cardiovascular diseases, cancer causes the second greatest burden on patients [3]. Many specialists (Table 1) in the field [1–7], using different approaches and variables, provide significant details and information about how changes in the burden of disease and innovative treatments, screening, and prevention are reflected in the cost of cancer. Bernard et al (2011) [8] estimates the out-of pocket burden among non-elderly adults with cancer.

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion