Relationship between health expenditure and the effectiveness and quality of the health systems in Europe.

Abstract

The need for contemplating the European healthcare systems has never been greater since healthcare systems in Europe are facing an uncommon challenge. The extended health effects of the worst European recession in living memory are likely to be profound especially in European countries that have become subject to financial intervention and healthcare system reformation enforced by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank. While social and demographic changes - like unemployment and aging - increase demand for healthcare, technological and scientific advances do not cease to increase health costs. Simultaneously, the financial crisis pressures governments to control health expenditure and to undergo fiscal cuts that usually result in exclusion from health services and additional private, -out of pocket- spending of the least wealthy individuals. All Member States of the European Union provide for their citizens universal healthcare. However, the national budgets dedicated for this purpose along with the type and quality of health services provided, differ substantially among the countries. The thorough analysis that follows examines the provision of healthcare in specific countries and relates financial resources - thus expenditure - with quality aspects of health in an attempt to understand why differences exist. The relative transition path and the coefficient of variation are the main tools that are used in order to detect convergence trends in health expenditure and in quality factors among homogenous group of European countries.