§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the review of the Health Service considered the reasons for the cost of health care in the United Kingdom compared with other industrial countries; and if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the percentage of gross domestic product to one place of decimals spent on (a) public and (b) private health care in other industrial countries together with an estimate of the extent to which the relative cost in the United Kingdom is due to (i) the standard of health (ii) the number of elderly persons, (iii) the level of remuneration of employees and (iv) the level of public provisions.
§ Mr. MellorThe Government's review of the NHS took into account a wide range of information about the costs of health care provision in this country and overseas.
The OECD's latest estimates of public and private expenditure on health as percentages of GDP in 12 leading industrial countries are shown in the table.
Differences in health expenditures between countries both in absolute and in relative terms are influenced by a wide range of economic, social and cultural factors the individual components and impacts of which are the subject of continuing research both here and abroad.
However, the raw percentages reported by the OECD will reflect the effects of factors such as the type of health funding systems adopted by individual countries; the mix of items comprising expenditure on health care and differences in relative prices.
It is not possible without disproportionate cost to summarise here the results of relevant international research into this subject.
Public and private expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP, 1986 Public Private Australia 5.3 2.1 Belgium 5.5 1.6 Canada 6.5 1.9 Denmark 5.2 1.0 France 6.7 1.8 Germany 6.3 1.8 Italy 5.2 1.5 Netherlands 6.6 1.8 Spain 4.3 1.7 Switzerland 5.4 2.6 United Kingdom 5.3 0.9 United States 4.5 6.6