Local Health Expenditure Research Articles

THE IMPLICATIONS OF POPULATION AGING ON LOCAL HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE: A 22-YEAR PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

The purpose of this study is to examine the implications of population aging on local health expenditures in South Africa. A balanced panel of annually observed observations from South Africa over the period of 22 years (1995–2017) was used. The study used gross domestic product (GDP), health expenditure, labor force, and age structure as control variables and pooled OLS, fixed effect, and random effect tests to estimate the relationships among the variables. The results show that the old-age dependency ratio, gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment rate, and gross value added (GVA) are all explanatory variables that are related to healthcare spending and are shown as a base model in the pooled OLS. The results indicate that healthcare expenditure and the old-age dependency ratio have a positive relationship in South Africa. Considering the implications for policy, this study suggests that the South African economy should account for the aging population when policies are designed and that the government should make an effort to improve the healthcare system in order to meet the demands of elderly people.

Análise da Participação dos Entes Federativos - União, Estado e Municípios - No Financiamento do SUS, nos Municípios com 50.000 a 100.000 Habitantes, da Região de Saúde de Campinas, no Período de 2012 A 2014

Because of the decentralization of the management of public health and the absence of a reform of its financing, the municipalities started to significantly increase the volume of its own funds invested in this area. In this context, this study aimed to analyze the participation of federal entities - Federal, State and Municipalities - the financing of the Unified Health System (SUS) in the municipalities with 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, the Metropolitan Health Region of Campinas, from 2012 to 2014. An integrative literature review and survey data were carried out on the municipalities on the Public Budget using the Health System information. Seven articles were selected and analyzed in full. In relation to the data collected, it was found out that municipalities, state and Union fulfilled what determines the Law n° 141/2012; the three federal entities increased health expenses from one year to another; there was an increase of municipal resources at the local health expenditure and a decrease of Union involvement, and the participation of the State wasn’t significant enough. Thus, health financing, by the Union needs to be corrected and should state resources participate in a more significant way, being extremely necessary discussion of new sources of resources to allow more public investment increase in health.