Health Expenditures, Longevity and Growth by B. Dormont, J. Oliveira Martins, F. Pelgrin and M. Suhrcke Discussant: V. Galasso
Health Spending and Growth: A Virtuous Circle? Health Spending Medical Innovation R&D Productivity Economic Growth Health Status & Longevity Labor Force Income
Too Good to be True? What drives Health Care Spending? Does Health Spending lead to better Health & higher Longevity? Longevity and Labor Force Income and Health Care Spending
What drives Health Care Spending? Aging …..not quite “proximity to death” spending
“Proximity to death” spending
What drives Health Care Spending? Aging Increase in Medical practices for given morbidity treatment expansion quality-adjusted prices do not raise much Why? Institutional Factors: Introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the 60s Pension annuities increase the value of longevity (Philipson and Becker, JPE 1998)
Public and Private Health Spending
Does Health Spending lead to better Health & higher Longevity? The report: Yes! Increase in Longevity Compression of Morbidity Healthy Aging Too Optimistic View?
How do Elderly people die?
Health Spending & Longevity Medical improvements (prevention, drugs, acute management) explain from 50% to 2/3 of cardiovascular mortality reduction. Competing explanation: People have modified their Health Behavior Reduction of smoking Diet & Exercise Larger reduction in mortality among educated people: the Health Gradient
Health Spending & Healthy Aging Healthy Aging for everyone? Not quite!
Healthy and Rich
Health Spending & Healthy Aging Healthy Aging for everyone? Not quite! Do rich (or high educated) individuals have better access to medical care? Or do they have a different health behavior?
From Health & Longevity to Growth Some virtuous channels: Updating participation rate (and retirement age) with longevity gains increases the labor force Higher longevity as an incentive to accumulate human capital R&D from Medical Innovation to Growth.
Longevity & Retirement Old Age Dependency Ratio Effective Retirement Age Pension Dependency Ratio Required Retirem ent Age Country France Germany Italy Spain UK US
Longevity and Retirement: Large increase in retirement age is required Health Gradient….again! What about the labor demand? From Health & Longevity to Growth
Healthy and Rich
Longevity and Retirement: Large increase in retirement age is required Health Gradient….again! What about the labor demand? R&D from Medical Innovation to Growth. The role of market structure. Is the domestic market what matters? From Health & Longevity to Growth
Income and Health Care Is Health Care a superior good? Not quite: unitary elasticity on cross-country regression Projections on Health Spending use: Demographic determinants Income Residual Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets From Growth to More Health Care?