Should there be a ceiling on what percentage of GDP countries spend on health? Yes

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1040

Published 25 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1040
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1040

Head to Head

Should there be a ceiling on what percentage of GDP countries spend on health? Yes

Nick Bosanquet, professor of health policy

¹ Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ

n.bosanquet@imperial.ac.uk

Demands on healthcare budgets seem to be ever increasing. NickBosanquet believes it is time to limit spending, but WernerChristie (doi:10.1136/bmj.a1036) argues that it should reflectmedical needs not economic performance

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

From 1990 to 2005, health spending in real terms rose almosttwice as fast as gross domestic product (GDP) across countriesin the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development—4.5%compared with 2.5%. This is unsustainable in an era of lowergrowth as the UK government, for example, says it has reachedthe limits of taxable capacity. A new approach is thereforeneeded. For the UK and for much of old Europe it would be strongand timely discipline to plan for health spending to increaseat the same rate as GDP for the next five years. This wouldsend a message that the key challenge is to get more value fromthe vast sums of money currently being spent on health services.

Apart from the United States, most developed countries now spendaround $3000 (£1500; ${euro}$ 2000) per head on health, which is8-9% of GDP. If spending was capped to . . . [Full text of this article]