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The growth of UK health expenditure
Author(s) -
Whynes David K.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.1992.tb00442.x
Subject(s) - health spending , economics , health care , public spending , public expenditure , demographic economics , health services , development economics , public economics , economic growth , political science , macroeconomics , sociology , demography , public finance , population , politics , law , health insurance
Over the past four decades, spending on health care in the United Kingdom has accounted for a rising share, both of total public spending and of the total output of the economy. Other industrial economies have had similar experiences, although the peculiar nature of the UK health service makes the general explanations offered for such expenditure growth inappropriate. Health spending growth in the UK, for the period 1949–89, is found to be strongly associated with output growth, and reasons to explain this relationship are advanced. The relationship's continued stability in the light of the 1989 health service reforms is questioned.