Growing health spending in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries is putting pressure on government budgets, said a report.

The OECD Health Data 2010 explained that in all OECD countries total spending on healthcare is rising faster than economic growth, pushing the average ratio of health spending to GDP from 7.8 per cent in 2000 to 9.0 per cent in 2008.

Factors pushing health spending up - technological change, population expectations and population ageing - will continue to drive cost higher in the future, according to the report.

In some countries the recent economic downturn, with GDP falling and healthcare costs rising, led to a sharp increase in the ratio of health spending to GDP. In Ireland, the percentage of GDP devoted to health increased from 7.5 per cent in 2007 to 8.7 per cent in 2008. In Spain, it rose from 8.4 per cent to 9.0 per cent.

The US spent $7,538 per person on health in 2008, well over double the $3,000 average of all OECD countries. The next biggest spenders, Norway and Switzerland, spent much less than the US per capita but still some 50 per cent more than the OECD average.

Governments of most OECD countries shoulder the lion’s share of healthcare costs, the report said.

The share of government expenditure devoted to health increased in most countries, rising from an average of 12 per cent in 1990 to an all-time high of 16 per cent in 2008.

Given the urgent need to reduce their budget deficits, many OECD governments will have to make difficult choices to sustain their healthcare systems: curb the growth of public spending on health, cut spending in other areas, or raise taxes, the study said.

New medical technologies are improving diagnosis and treatment but they also increase health spending.

OECD Health Data 2010 shows that there has been rapid growth in the supply and use of computed tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units used for diagnostic purposes.

MRI units per capita more than doubled on average across OECD countries between 2000 and 2008, reaching 13 machines per million population in 2008, up from 6 in 2000.

The number of CT scanners rose to 24 per million population, up from 19 in 2000.  The number of MRI units per capita is much greater in Japan, the US, Italy and Greece than in other countries. These countries, along with Australia and Korea, also have more CT scanners.

MRI and CT scanners are expensive to buy and to operate. There are big differences in their use per capita - far more in the US than in Canada, France or the Netherlands.

The rapid growth in these diagnostic procedures over the past decade in the US has raised concerns that some imaging may not be useful. To reduce unnecessary procedures and cut costs, many OECD countries are trying to promote rational use of costly medical technologies, the report said. – TradeArabia News Service