Growth of Health Costs: Myths and Reality
Government spending are the basic of the health economics of any developed countries. We are overwhelmingly confident that an increase in the financing of the health care system makes it possible to improve the population’s access to medical care, which, accordingly, it is reflected on an increasing quality of life and its duration. Undoubtedly, investments in the healthcare industry should lead to the creation of new jobs, the development and introduction of advanced medical technologies and innovative drugs into clinical practice. In recent years, in the Russian Federation, there has been a positive trend in the volume of funds allocated by the state to protect public health. The article is devoted to the study of possible factors causing this growth. The authors made an attempt to answer the questions whether the increase in health care costs is due only to the political will of decision makers at the federal level, whether unhealthy lifestyles of the country’s citizens affect health care costs, which primarily depend on the costs of health care resources and others. To answer these questions, the authors analyzed the behavior of individual indicators reflecting health care expenditures and population health indicators for the Russian Federation in comparison with the countries of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) - Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.