Financing schemes for health care are the arrangements through which people pay for and obtain health services. There are three main categories of financing scheme: Government & compulsory schemes (HF.1), Voluntary health care schemes (HF.2) and Direct payments by households or Household out-of-pocket (HF.3). Further details are available in the background notes.
More than three-quarters of healthcare expenditure is financed by government
Government expenditure accounts for 79% of total current healthcare expenditure. Non-government expenditure was financed by voluntary health contributions, which are predominantly private health insurance, - 11% of the total - and the remaining 10% was paid for by household out-of-pocket payments. The share of spending between the classification groups had been stable over the time-series up to 2019, however the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increased share of spending by government (see Figure 3.1).
Between 2016 and 2020 there was an increase of 42% in health spending by government. While private health insurance payments for health care had been increasing year-on-year in 2020 there was a sharp decrease in expenditure (-€401 million) due to reduced activity in the private healthcare sector. Household out-of-pocket expenditure increased by 8% over the period 2016 - 2020, (see Figure 3.2 and Table 3.1).
| Government | Voluntary Payments | Household Out of Pocket | |
| 2016 | 14622.311514199 | 2912.222335008 | 2572.68498828 |
| 2017 | 15485.599954543 | 3058.025039596 | 2675.425397624 |
| 2018 | 16627.22558487 | 3106.92794063 | 2696.900420237 |
| 2019 | 17755.7980620363 | 3222.66606899246 | 2814 |
| 2020 | 20872.3784050137 | 2825.40546225176 | 2781 |
| Current Health Care Expenditure By Health Care Financing Scheme (% Change between 2016 to 2020) | |
| Government | 42.7433575378667 |
| Voluntary Health Care Payments | -2.98112103985363 |
| Household Out-of-Pocket | 8 |
Table 3.2 shows the revenues of financing schemes for health care. See the Background Notes for more information on this classification.
Most of the revenue for the government expenditure on health care came through internal government transfers, i.e. general taxation. Social insurance contributions (such as PSRI) cover a tiny percentage of government spending on health care (1%). The revenues for Voluntary Health Contributions are predominantly voluntary prepayments, i.e. health insurance premiums, (see Table 3.2).
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.