What is the purpose of the health care being consumed?

In 2021 more than half (55%) of all health expenditure related to curative and rehabilitative care; this mainly covers in-patient and out-patient care. The next largest category, 21% of all health expenditure, was long-term care. See Figure 6.1. Table 6.1 includes more details and shows that in-patient services were the largest component of both long-term care and curative/rehabilitative care.

Health expenditure increased by 35% between 2017 and 2021. The growth in spending in preventative care was higher due to the increased spending to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. There were increases across all areas of preventive care, in particular early disease detection and immunisation. There was a lower rate of growth in medical goods and pharmaceuticals (14%). See Figure 6.2.

How are health care services funded?

Figure 6.3 below provides a breakdown of health care expenditure by health care function and financing source for 2021. As noted earlier in this release, 77% of health care expenditure was funded by Government in 2021, with 12% by health insurance and the remaining 11% by household out-of-pocket payments. The differences from the total financing scheme split show that there is very little spending on long term care by private health insurance companies. As expected, there is no spending on administration by households.

How are the health care services distributed across provider type?

Figure 6.4 contains details of health care services by health care providers. Most of the information is as expected: the majority of medical goods are provided by pharmacies and retailers; and nearly all administration functions are provided by the providers of the service. About one-third of curative/rehabilitative care is provided by providers of out-patient care. Almost two-thirds (63%) of long-term care is provided within long-term residential facilities. The rest is provided by out-patient care (12%) or the rest of the economy or home based care (23%).