State statistics agency notes slowing growth of spending on health goods and services

THE COUNTRY’S total and per capita health spending grew in 2005-2007, but at a slowing pace in terms of both current and constant prices, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said in a statement yesterday.

At current prices, total spending for health rose to P234.3 billion in 2007 from P198.4 billion in 2005, with growth slowing to 8.3% in 2007 from 9.1% in 2006.

Discounting the effect of inflation, total health expenditure grew by 4.6% in 2006 and by a slower 4.0% the following year, NSCB said.

When considered on a per capita basis, these growth rates translate to increases in per capita health spending of just P14 in 2006 and an even smaller P11 in 2007.

These are among the highlights of the 2005-2007 preliminary estimates of the Philippine National Health Accounts (PNHA) which NSCB has released.

The PNHA presents data on how much is spent on health care goods and services and which sector pays for them.

PNHA’s other main points are:

* Health expenditure in 2005-2007 was still within the target ratio of 3%-4% of gross national product set as part of the National Objectives for Health 2005-2010. However, this ratio dipped to 3.2% in 2007 from 3.4% in 2005.
* Households bore bulk of the burden of spending for their health needs, accounting for 54.3% of total health expenditure in 2007. Private households’ contribution to total spending grew 30.43% to P127.3 billion in 2007 from P97.6 billion in 2005.
* Government came in second in health spending contribution, with the national and local governments footing almost equal shares of 13.0% and 13.3% in 2007, respectively. Total state spending on health care goods and services rose 5.13% to P61.5 billion in 2007 from P58.5 billion in 2005.
* Health spending from social insurance barely grew to nearly P20 billion in 2007 from P19.4 billion in 2005, with average annual growth of just 1.6%. And instead of picking up as targeted, the social insurance share in health spending dropped to 8.5% in 2007 from 9.8% in 2005.

Final estimates for 2000-2007 and updates for 2008 will be released by yearend, NSCB said.