Growth of Global Health Spending Share in Low and Middle Income Countries

Abstract

Over the past century medical technology has provided bold gains extending human longevity for almost several decades in most welfare economies worldwide. These public health victories came at the cost of huge increase in health spending. The USA, the largest health care market where total health expenditure (THE) grew from 4% of GDP to 15%, may serve as an example of such changes. The secular trend consisting of rising wages and incomes constitutes major factor in the rising resources dedicated to the medical care. Business cycle booms and recessions affected health care spending slowly and with a significant lag. In this sense health expenditures should not be compared to short term, quarterly or yearly fluctuations in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but correlates well to "smoothed" income over the previous 3-6 years