The corona pandemic had already led to a six percent increase in public health spending in 2020, and in the second year of the pandemic the increase was even greater: in 2021, according to an estimate published Tuesday by Statistics Austria, federal, state, local governments and social security agencies will pay $0.54 billion in current health expenditures — up 15.8 percent from the previous year.
This growth was mainly due to the additional costs of purchasing and conducting Covid-19 testing, the provision and distribution of corona vaccinations and other costs related to the corona pandemic such as protective equipment or contact tracing. All in all, the public share of current health care expenditure was 78.6 percent in 2021 (2020: 76.5).
According to the first estimate, total current health expenditure in 2021 was 49.02 billion or 12.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). That is an increase of 5.5 billion euros or 12.6 percent compared to 2020.
Private spending has also risen
Private households, voluntary health insurers, private nonprofits and businesses had current health expenditures of $10.48 billion in 2021 — a 2.3 percent increase. Private spending thus accounted for 21.4 percent of nominal expenditure on health care and goods. However, there are still uncertainties in the data situation at the moment, especially with regard to private spending, as Statistics Austria emphasized.
Source: Krone
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
