The true cost of health
FIGURES REVEAL HOW MUCH DIFFERENT COUNTRIES SPEND PER HEAD ON OUR HEALTH
THE UK spends less than half the amount per head that the US does on healthcare, new figures have revealed.
The Office for National Statistics has analysed the UK’s healthcare spending compared to other, similar countries.
Their analysis shows that the UK spent £197 billion on healthcare in 2017, or £2,989 per person.
In comparison, the US spent £7,736 per person - more than two and a half times more.
In fact, the UK spent less than almost every other G7 country - the group of seven countries that have the largest
advanced economies in the world.
As well as the UK and the US, they include Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Only Italy shelled out less than the UK, spending £2,559 per head on healthcare in 2017.
As well as the US, the biggest spenders were France (£3,737 per person) and Germany (£4,432 per head).
In general, average life expectancy tends to be longer in countries that spend more on healthcare. Research suggests that the particularly high spending in the US is partly because of higher prices, and partly because of the consumption of a greater volume of goods and services. There are also differences in how that healthcare is funded.
In the UK, around four-fifths (79%) of health expenditure is paid for through public revenues, mainly taxation.
This is almost exclusively spent on government-financed healthcare, such as NHS services or certain elements of local authority-funded social care.
However, a small amount of public revenues also funds healthcare services accessed through charities.
This represents less than 1% of overall healthcare funding.
The remaining 21% of healthcare spending is from private revenues, including voluntary health insurance schemes and out-of-pocket payments.
Within the G7, only Japan saw more of healthcare funding come from public money, with 84% of its spending coming from the public purse. In comparison, half of all US spending comes from private revenues. This is due to a high share of privately-funded healthcare insurance, much of which is mandatory insurance under the Affordable Care Act (2014).