Longevity – can we afford it? The problem of households’ direct health care expenditures in Poland
Article Sidebar
Published:
Jun 2, 2017
Keywords:
Longevity, health expenditures, Polish health care, social policy, health econometrics
Main Article Content
Abstract
Longevity can be perceived as increasing life expectancy in a population or as the long lifespan of an individual. Longer lifespans and decreasing fertility rates in many countries will cause societies to rapidly grow old. This paper is an attempt to define the determinants of the ‘out-of-pocket’ medical expenditures of the elderly. In this research statistical tests and micro-econometric modelling were carried out on a sample of the Polish population. The results of the analysis indicate that the elderly with their elevated needs for medical assistance spent more on the health care, than the rest of population (in the absolute value and in relation to income) and that their expenditures are constantly increasing. The main limitation to households’ health care expenditures is the income, which suggests that there may be an unrealized demand for medical services and products, especially medical drugs that cannot be obtained entirely free of charge. This highlights a new direction for the development of Poland’s health care policy; otherwise, longevity may be a luxury that not everyone can afford.
Article Details
How to Cite
Żółtaszek, A. (2017). Longevity – can we afford it? The problem of households’ direct health care expenditures in Poland. Studia Demograficzne, (1(171), pp. 27–48. https://doi.org/10.33119/SD.2017.1.2
Section
Original research papers & review papers
References
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[41] Zweifel P., Felder S., Meier M., 1999, Ageing of population and health care expenditure: a red herring?, “Health Economics”, 8(6), 485–496.
[2] Breyer F., Lorenz N., Niebel T., 2014, Health care expenditures and longevity: is there a Eubie Blake effect?, “European Journal of Health Economics”, published online 2 march 2014.
[3] Buchner F., Wasem J., 2006, “Steeping” of health expenditure profiles, “The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance – Issues and Practice”, 31 (4), 581–599.
[4] Cameron A.C., Trivedi P.K., 2005, Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications, Cambridge University Press, New York.
[5] CIA, 2014, The world of factbook, Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/rankorder/2102rank.html.
[6] CSO, 2012, Health and health care in 2011, Warsaw, Available at: http://stat.gov.pl/en/.
[7] CSO, 2013, Health and health care in 2012, Warsaw, Available at: http://stat.gov.pl/en/.
[8] CSO, 2015, Local data bank, Warsaw, Available at: http://stat.gov.pl/bdlen/app/strona.html?p_name=indeks.
[9] Czapiński J., 1998, Jakość życia Polaków w czasie zmiany społecznej, baza danych, Available at: www.diagnoza.com.
[10] Czapiński J., Panek T. (ed.), 2013, Social diagnosis, Available at: www.diagnoza.com.
[11] Derejczyk J., 2013, Realia geriatrii w Polsce, “Report for Polish Human Rights Defender”, Available at: www.rpo.gov.pl/pliki/13522065780.pdf.
[12] Dormont B., Grignon M., Huber H., 2006, Health expenditure growth: reassessing the threat of ageing, “Health Economics”, 15, 947–96.
[13] Erus B., Aktakke N., 2012, Impact of health care reforms on out-of-pocket health expenditures in Turkey for public insures, “European Journal of Health Economics”, 13, 337–346.
[14] European Commission, 2012, The 2012 Ageing Report: Economic and budgetary projections for the EU27 Member States (2010–2060), “European Economy” 2/2012.
[15] Eurostat, 2017, Population and Social Conditions Database, Available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database.
[16] Fries J.F., 1980, Aging, natural death and compression of morbidity, “Bulletin of the World Health Organization” 2002, 80(3), 245–250, after “The New England Journal of Medicine”, 302/3, 130–135.
[17] Global AgeWatch Index, 2013, Insight Report, Available at: http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/.Global AgeWatch Index, 2014, Insight Report, Available at: http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/.
[18] Gregersen F.A., 2013, The impact of ageing on health care expenditures: a study of steepening, “European Journal of Health Economics”, published online 24 November 2013.
[19] Gruszczyński M. (ed.), 2010, Mikroekonometria. Modele i metody analiz danych indywidualnych, Oficyna Wolters Kluwer Business, Warszawa.
[20] Guindon G.E., Contoyannis P., 2012, A second look at pharmaceutical spending as determinants of health outcomes in Canada, “Health Economics”, 21: 1477–1495, Published online 28 October 2008 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), DOI: 10.1002/hec.1415.
[21] Hill S.C., Miller G.E., 2010, Health expenditure estimation and functional form: applications of the generalized gamma and extended estimating equations models, “Health Economics”, 19, 608–627.
[22] Jagger C., 2000, Compression or expansion of morbidity – what does the future hold?, “Age and Aging”, 29, 93–94.
[23] Kokoszka-Paszkot J., 2013, Raport: Pacjent w wieku podeszłym w polskim systemie ochrony zdrowia, „Report for Polish Ministry of Health”, Available at: http://www.geriatria.mz.gov.pl/?c=mdPobieralnia-pobierz-308.
[24] Lubitz J.D., Riley G.F., 1993, Trends in Medicare Payments in the Last Year of Life, “New England Journal of Medicine”, 328(15), 1092–1096.
[25] Lubitz J.D., Greenberg L.G., Gorina Y., Wartzman L. and Gibson D., 2001, Three Decades Of Health Care Use By The Elderly, 1965–1998, “Health Affairs”, 20/2, 19-32, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.20.2.19.
[26] Manton K.G., Corder L., Stallard E., 1997, Chronic disability trends in elderly United States populations: 1982–1994, “PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA) Medical Sciences”, 94, 2593–2598.
[27] Manton K.G., Gu X.L., 2001, Changes in the prevalence of chronic disability in the United States black and nonblack population above age 65 from 1982 to 1999, “PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA)”, 98/11, 6354–6359.
[28] Matsaganis M., Mitrakos T., Tsakloglou P., 2009, Modelling health expenditure at the household level in Greece, “European Journal of Health Economics”, 10, 329–336.
[29] Meara E., White C., Cutler D.M., 2004, Trends In Medical Spending By Age, 1963–2000, “Health Affairs”, 23/4, 176–183.
[30] Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, 2013, Założenia Długofalowej Polityki Senioralnej w Polsce na lata 2014–2020, Warsaw, Available at: www.mpips.gov.pl/Seniorzy/aktywne starzenie.
[31] O’Connell J., 1996, The relationship between health expenditures and the age structure of the population in OECD countries, “Health Economics”, 5, 573–578.
[32] Riley G.F., Lubitz J.D., 2010, Long-Term Trends in Medicare Payments in the Last Year of Life, “Health Services Research”, 45/2, 65–576, DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01082.x.
[33] Saastamoinen L.K., Verho J., 2013, Drug expenditure of high-cost patients and their characteristics in Finland, “European Journal of Health Economics”, 14, 495–502.
[34] Sato E., Fushimi K., 2009, What has influenced patient health-care expenditures in Japan?: variables of age, death, length of stay, and medical care, “Health Economics”, 18, 843–853.
[35] Shang B., Goldman D., 2008, Does age or life expectancy better predict health care expenditures?, “Health Economics”, 17; 487–501.
[36] Sole-Auro A., Guillen M., Crimmins E.M., 2012, Health care usage among immigrants and native-born elderly populations in eleven European countries: results from SHARE, “European Journal of Health Economics”, 13, 741–754.
[37] Stearns S.C., Norton E.C., 2004, Time to include time to death? The future of health care expenditure predictions, “Health Economics”, 13, 315–327.
[38] Stearns S.C., Norton E.C., Yang Z., 2007, How Age and Disability Affect Long-Term Care Expenditures in the United States, “Social Policy & Society”, 6:3, 367–378, doi:10.1017/S1474746407003697.
[39] Werblow A., Felder S., Zweifel P., 2007, Population ageing and health care expenditure: a school of ‘red herrings’?, “Health Economics”, 16, 1109–1126.
[40] Żółtaszek A., 2013, Modele mikrosymulacyjne. Teoria i zastosowania ekonomiczno-społeczne, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego.
[41] Zweifel P., Felder S., Meier M., 1999, Ageing of population and health care expenditure: a red herring?, “Health Economics”, 8(6), 485–496.