Private pay grew in 2022 in NHS countries – despite cost of living crisis
You might have expected the cost of living crisis to have halted the growth of discretionary private health care spending in 2022. But this wasn’t the case in the UK, Portugal or Italy, all of which have NHS systems. By contrast, Germany, which has a Bismarckian system, did see a fall.
The UK saw especially high growth in private spending, as increasing numbers of people decided to fork out money to avoid the millions queuing for NHS care. Total private spending grew by 9.5% in 2022, driven primarily by out of pocket spending growth of 10.4%. PMI also saw significant growth, of 6.6%, although this was well below the 2021 growth in PMI, of 12.2%.
Private pay also grew strongly in Portugal, by 5.6%. However, PMI growth was the strongest growing funding source, at 8.4%, although out of pocket spending also grew significantly, by 4.9%. Growth in private pay did slow drastically in 2022: in 2021 it grew by a colossal 16.5%. This was in large part a rebound from 2020 where it fell due to Covid.
In Italy, total private pay growth stood at just 0.82% in 2022 (down from 7% in 2021). Whilst out of pocket expenditure barely grew, increasing by just 0.3%, PMI did grow significantly, by 5.2%.
The picture in Germany is quite different. Private spending actually fell by 2.5% in 2022, with out of pocket spending falling even further, by 3.9% (this contrasts with 2016 – 2019 where it grew significantly every year). On the other hand, PMI did continue to grow, by 4%.
The cost of living crisis does appear to be having some impact on private spending growth, but NHS countries such as the UK, Portugal and Italy are seeing record waiting lists for publicly funded care since Covid, and this is driving people to keep forking out money for private health care even as they see their real (inflation-adjusted) spending power fall due to inflation.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Martin De Benito Gellner or call 0207 183 3779.
