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Steady increase in health expenditure
statistikk
2009-04-01T10:00:00.000Z
National accounts and business cycles;Health
en
helsesat, Health accounts, health care expenditures, health services (for example medical services, rehabilitation, nursing home services), financing sources (for example establishments, national insurance, own risk), satellite accounts, hospital services, own riskHealth services , National accounts , National accounts and business cycles, Health
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Health accounts, 1997-2008

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Steady increase in health expenditure

There has been a steady increase in health expenditure in Norway over the last years. Public spending has increased slightly more than private spending and amounts to somewhat above 84 percent of the total health expenditure. Norway ranks among the countries with the highest per capita health spending.

Health expenditure, key figures. 1999-2008
  1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007* 2008*
Total expenditure on health. NOK million  115 711  124 728  135 266  150 029  159 572  168 237  176 984  186 761  202 928  217 162
                     
Total expenditure on healt in current prices in per cent of GDP 9.3 8.4 8.8 9.8 10.0 9.7 9.1 8.6 8.9 8.6
Total expenditure on health in current prices in per cent of GDP Mainland Norway 11.1 11.2 11.5 12.3 12.5 12.4 12.2 11.8 11.8 11.8
Total expenditure on healt in current prices per capita 25 933 27 773 29 968 33 059 34 957 36 638 38 281 40 072 43 092 45 544

Total expenditure on health in per cent of gross domestic product for a selected group of OECD countries, 2006

Per capita spending on health in Norway in 2008 was NOK 45 500 on average. Measured this way, health spending has doubled the last 10 years. However, measured as a share of GDP Mainland-Norway, health expenditure has been relatively stable the past decade. The ratio increased steadily from 1997, peaking in 2003 at 12.5 per cent when the economic cycle was at its lowest. After that it slowly decreased, stabilizing at 11.8 per cent. Health spending measured as a share of total GDP gives a similar picture, with a peak in 2003, and is at 8.6 per cent in 2008. Variation between OECD countries is considerable. The last available figures from OECD show that Turkey spent 5.7 per cent of their GDP on health, whereas the GDP ratio for the United States was 15.3 per cent. The GDP ratio is relative and says something about the share of the national economy devoted to health. This implies that countries with a high GDP per capita, such as Norway, may spend a relatively small share of GDP on health, whereas health spending per capita may still be relatively high. The OECD figures show that health expenditure in Norway was almost 60 per cent higher than the OECD average, whereas the GDP ratio was slightly below the OECD average.

The figures show a real growth in total health expenditure of almost 40 per cent the last 10 years. This equals an annual growth rate at 3.4 per cent, well above the average annual OECD growth rate for GDP, which was 2.4 per cent, and exceeding the annual growth rate for GDP Mainland-Norway, which was more than 3.2 per cent this period. The increase in health spending was higher during the first five years of the past decade.

Government expenditure

Compared to other countries a relatively large share of health expenditure in Norway is publicly financed. This share has increased, and the past years public financing has accounted for 84 per cent of total health expenditure. The OECD average in 2006 was 73 per cent, and variation between countries is quite high. However, the main share of health expenditure in the OECD is publicly financed, the exceptions being the United States and Mexico, where public financing accounts for 45 per cent.

Current Expenditure by Health Care Functions (ICHA-HC), 2006

Total Expenditure on Health by Source of Funding. 2008
  Total Expenditure on Health Private Funded. Per cent Public funded
Total expenditure on health  217 162 15.8 84.2
HC.1 Service of curative care  101 576 14.7 85.3
HC.1.1, 1.2 In-patient curative care and day cases of curative care 61 654 0.4 99.6
HC.1.3-1.4 Out-patient curative care 39 922 36.9 63.1
HC.2 Services of rehabilitative care 3 112 6.3 93.7
HC.3 Service og long term nursing care 55 388 10.4 89.6
HC.4 Ancillary services to health care 13 230 5.8 94.2
HC.5 Medical goods dispensed to out-patients 25 338 43.8 56.3
HC.6 Prevention and public health services 4 207 11.5 88.5
HC.7 Health administration and health insurance 1 723 ...  100.0
Total current expenditure on health  204 574 16.3 83.7
HC R.1 Capital formation of health care provider institutions 12 588 8.3 91.7

Public spending on health in Norway is covered by the government through the Regional Health Authorities, the social security fund and the local government. The last five years public spending on health has accounted for almost 20 per cent of total government spending. Public financing covers most health services but the share covered varies by health care function. Private spending comprises most dental services, as well as out-of-pocket payments to general practitioners, specialists, pharmaceuticals, and so on.

Allocation of health spending by function has been relatively stable for quite some time, the greatest change being an increase in the share spent on long-term health care and patient transportation. In general, expenditure in Norway follows the same allocation as the other OECD countries. The greatest difference is that long-term health care, hospital services and home care account for a larger share of total expenditure. This may be due to actual differences in spending but could also be caused by different interpretations of the guidelines for defining health and care services.

Total expenditure on health measures the final consumption of health care goods and services (i.e. current health expenditures) in addition to capital investment in health care infrastructure. This includes spending by public and private sources (including households) on medical goods and services, public health, preventive health care programmes and administration. The two major components of total current health expenditure are expenditure on personal health care and expenditure on collective services. Personal health care services comprise curative care, rehabilitation, long-term health care, ancillary health care services, and medical goods dispensed to out-patients. Collective services comprise public health tasks such as health promotion and disease prevention services and health administration, which are delivered to society at large.

Health expenditure also includes expenditure on health care and social services. According to international guidelines only expenditure for health care and social services that are health related should be included in the health accounts. Long-term nursing care is typically a mix of medical care and social care. Thus only the former is included here.

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