§ Lord Wigoderasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following the Answer by Baroness Hooper (3rd February 1991, col. WA. 4) concerning the precentage of GDP spent on the National Health Service and private health care in the United Kingdom, that "We do not have comparable figures for other EC countries", whether they will obtain and publish such figures (as a percentage of GNP or GDP, or, if possible, both); and, if they will not, what is their best estimate of the percentage spent in each member state on public or private health care, or both if possible.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Baroness Hooper)We are not aware of a source of comparable figures for the percentage of GDP/GNP spent on health care by countries other than the United Kingdom. Some figures are published by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development—International Health Spending, Issues 57WA and Trends by George J. Schieber and Jean Pierre Poullier and Health Care Systems in Twenty-Four Countries by George J. Schieber and Jean Pierre Poullier and M. Greenwald: Health Affairs Spring 1991 and Fall 1991. Copies of both articles are 58WA available in the Library, but the authors note that the figures are not comparable for a number of reasons, including the different definitions of health care used and the different calculation of capital spending.