VIVE-The Danish Center for Social Science Research Reports Findings in Healthcare Economics (Ageing and health care expenditures: the importance of age per se, steepening of the individual-level expenditure curve, and the role of morbidity): Economics – Healthcare Economics

2022 FEB 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Economics - Healthcare Economics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Copenhagen, Denmark, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The demographic change towards a larger proportion of older individuals challenges universal health care systems in sustaining high-quality care and universal coverage without budget expansions. To build valuable predictions of the economic burden from population ageing, it is crucial to understand the determinants of individual-level health care expenditures.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from VIVE-The Danish Center for Social Science Research, “Often, the focus has been on the relative importance of an individual’s age and time to death, while only a few newer studies highlight that individual-level health care expenditures are increasing faster for the elderly-i.e., creating a steepening of the individual-level health care expenditure curve over time. Applying individual-level administrative data for the entire Danish population, our study is the first to use a single data set to examine whether age, time to death, and a steepening of the individual-level health care expenditure curve all contributed to individual-level health care expenditures over a 12 year observation period (2006-2018). We find that individual-level expenditures are associated with an individual’s age, an individual’s time to death, and a steepening of the expenditure curve, with the steepening driven by individuals above age 75. We observe heterogeneity in the extent and age distribution of steepening across disease groups. The threefold combination of an ageing population, the correlation between expenditures and age per se, and a steepening of the expenditure curve make establishing financially sustainable universal health care systems increasingly difficult. To mitigate budgetary pressure, policy-makers should stimulate cost-effective medical advances and health care utilization in the treatment of elderly.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Moreover, steepening scenarios should be added to future health care expenditure forecasts.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Ageing and health care expenditures: the importance of age per se, steepening of the individual-level expenditure curve, and the role of morbidity. The European Journal of Health Economics, 2022. The European Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Springer, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, Ny, United States.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Anna Kollerup, VIVE-The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Herluf Trolles Gade 11, 1052, Copenhagen, Denmark. Additional authors for this research include Jakob Kjellberg and Rikke Ibsen.

The publisher of the The European Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Springer, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, Ny, United States.

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