Cross-country differences in household healthcare spending
Irene Papanicolas, Jonathan Cylus, Maecey Niksch, Luca Lorenzoni · 2026
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Description
Who pays for health care out of their own pocket, and how fast that bill grows, differs sharply across rich countries. Irene Papanicolas, Jonathan Cylus, Maecey Niksch, and Luca Lorenzoni chart the differences in a 2026 study. They tracked outpatient and drug spending across OECD countries from 2000 to 2023.
Overall health spending growth slowed after the Great Recession, yet household spending kept creeping up everywhere, about half a percent a year. The United States stood apart: its out-of-pocket burden ran more than twice most peers', and prices, not use, drove its drug spending. Elsewhere, volume growth did the pushing while prices rose slowly. The authors urge governments to watch household hardship closely and to rethink cost-sharing as a tool for keeping systems solvent.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Irene Papanicolas, Jonathan Cylus, Maecey Niksch, Luca Lorenzoni |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 28 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |