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Italy 16th among OECD European countries for per capita health expenditure (in 2022 equal to 3,255 dollars while in Germany it is close to 7 thousand). In Europe, 15 countries invest in health care more than ours. Gimbe’s analysis in view of the discussion of the 2024 Budget Law
In our country, public health expenditure in 2022 was equal to 6.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), 0.3 percentage points less than the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) average and, compared in terms of per capita spending, we bring up the rear among the G7 countries, of which we will have the presidency in 2024. This is what the Report of the Gimbe Foundation highlights, prepared in view of the discussion of the 2024 Budget Law. Underlines Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation: «The fundamental principles of National Health Service (SSN), universality, equality, fairness, have been betrayed; today the key words of our NHS are quite different: endless waiting lists, overcrowding in the emergency room, increase in private spending, inequalities in access to services, inaccessibility to innovations, healthcare migration, giving up on treatment”. That’s why, according to the Gimbe’s analysis, Italy “must reverse course as soon as possible. Otherwise it will be goodbye to the constitutional right to health protection “, especially in the southern regions.
Comparison with OECD countries: less 47.6 billion invested
The Report, which is based on data from Oecd Stat (updated to July 2023), indicates that public health expenditure in our country in 2022 stood at 6.8 percent of GDP, compared to an OECD (and also European) average by 7.1 percent. In particular, there are thirteen European countries which, as a percentage of GDP, invest more than Italy. Germany, for example, invests 10.9 percent of its gross domestic product.
The gap is also evident for per capita health expenditure, which in Italy is equal to 3,255 dollars and remains below both the OECD average (3,899 dollars) with a difference of 644 dollars, and the average of other European countries (4,128 ) with a difference of $873.
15 European countries invest more than us in healthcare: a gap of 47.6 billion
And in Europe there are 15 countries that invest more than us in healthcare. «At the current dollar/euro exchange rate – explains Cartabellotta – the gap with the average of European countries in the OECD area today amounts to over 808 euros per capita which, taking into account a resident population in Italy (Istat 2023 data) of over 58 8 million inhabitants, translates into a figure of over 47.6 billion euros».
The gap with European countries – continues Gimbe’s analysis – has gradually widened since 2010, following cuts and public definancing, to reach 590 euros in 2019; then it was further extended in the years of the pandemic when, in the face of a sharp increase in health spending in Italy, the other European countries have in any case invested more than ours.
Gap widened with the pandemic
Moving on to compare the 2008-2022 public expenditure trend with the other G7 countries, it emerges that in these countries (except for the United Kingdom) the 2008 financial crisis did not in the least affect public expenditure per capita on health, reports the Gimbe’s analysis: after 2008 the growth trend remained or even increased. In Italy, on the other hand, the trend has substantially flattened out since 2008, leaving our country always in last position. Furthermore, Cartabellotta explains: «Italy among the G7 countries has always been last for public expenditure per capita: but, if in 2008 the differences with other countries were modest, with the constant and progressive public definancing of the last 15 years have now become unbridgeable.”
In 2022, while Italy remains last with a per capita expenditure of 3,255 dollars, Germany has more than doubled it, reaching almost 7,000. Furthermore, President Gimbe comments: “if, to deal with the pandemic, all the G7 countries increased their per capita public spending from 2019 to 2022, Italy is second to last just above Japan”.
After the COVID-19 emergency, the Report points out, the gap with the other G7 European countries continues to grow: in Italy, public health spending in 2022, compared to 2019, increased by 625 dollars, almost half that of France (1,197) and 2.5 times less than the German one ( 1,540).
The health of the population affects the growth of the GDP
According to Cartabellotta, “the now unbridgeable gaps are the result of the short-sightedness of politics in the last 20 years which has cut and/or not invested in health care, ignoring – unlike other countries – that the degree of health and well-being of the population affects GDP growth ». But, underlines the president of the Gimbe Foundation, “public health is a priority in which to invest continuously and not a cost to be cut repeatedly”. This is why we need “signs already visible in the NaDEF 2023 and, above all, in the next Budget Law” he concludes Carta bellotta.
September 5, 2023 (change September 5, 2023 | 12:52 am)
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