About the relationship between health expenditure and GDP: more evidence

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the relationship between Health Care Expenditure (HCE) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in different developed countries with different health care systems from 1960 to 2010 were analyzed. For this purpose, unit root test and cointegration techniques were used. We showed not only the trajectory of these variables over time but also other factors associated with them, as life expectancy at birth, total expenditure on health, gross domestic product, density of general care physicians and population composition by age. The results of this research showed that these variables were not always integrated with the same order although they showed great variation across countries. We could confirm HCE varies significantly over time and across countries although there exist a number of non-income determinants which could explain this variation.