Health spend cut to below average 8.9% of GDP

Ireland is spending less on health by percentage of GDP than France or Germany, despite the fact both nations are continuing to push for reductions in our health service budgets.

The comparison is made in the latest report on health matters in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

According to the document, after a near 23% cut in health service funding since the recession began, expenditure for Ireland’s system now accounts for about 8.9% of the nation’s GDP income.

However, despite the relatively high nature of the figure, the report states that this is still below the OECD average of 9.3%, and far below the likes of France and Germany, where health budgets claim 11.6% and 11.2% of GDP, respectively.

While the financial figures come with the caveat that no health system is the same, with each having different financial requirements, it is likely to be of interest to government officials during ongoing discussions on what, if any, further health cuts the sector can take.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan recently suggested that next year’s overall budget cutbacks will be less than the planned €2bn, despite the IMF, European Commission, and the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council insisting the original figure should still be met.

Any reduction may focus on parts of the health sector, long-standing funding problems for which reached an all-time low last autumn after a tense internal government stand-off over how much money was available for the vital sector.

Meanwhile, the report has also shown that Ireland witnessed the biggest percentage increase in health spending out of all 34 OECD countries between 2000 and 2009, but has also recorded the 10th deepest level of cuts since that period.

Reforms in how much consultants are paid, among other matters, continue to be the subject of the Department of Health’s budget cuts focus.

However, Health Minister James Reilly, HSE director general Tony O’Brien, and — at a Dáil Public Accounts Committee meeting last month — department secretary general Ambrose McLoughlin have repeatedly warned that the system is struggling to operate on the budget provided.