More than €2.4bn spent on healthcare response to Covid-19

Some €915m was spent on PPE, including masks and gloves, last year.

The Government spent €2.4bn on healthcare directly related to Covid-19 last year, including €915m on personal protection equipment (PPE), swab kits and ventilators, and €215m on testing and contact tracing.

The extra spend in 2020 brought the total healthcare bill overall to €26.4bn, an increase of 11% on the previous year, according to figures calculated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Spending on healthcare in Ireland was €23.8 billion in 2019, which increased by €2.6 billion (11%) in 2020 mostly due to COVID-19https://t.co/1DjnsgsC9o #CSOIreland #Ireland #Health #HSE #HealthAccounts pic.twitter.com/MFmJYS4J7r

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) June 22, 2021

Statistician Elaine O'Sullivan said in addition to the money spent on equipment and testing, a further €315m was spent on Covid-19 treatment.

Ireland’s current expenditure on healthcare was €23.8bn in 2019, equivalent to 6.7% of GDP or 11.1% of GNI, the CSO said.

GDP is a calculation of the total value of all goods and services produced within a country in a given year, whereas GNI calculates the total income earned by Ireland's population and businesses, no matter where it was earned, according to the definition by online finance reference site Investopedia.

The CSO said current expenditure on healthcare has increased by 24% since 2015, with an average annual increase of 5.5%. 

Spending on health in Ireland was higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 8.7% before 2015, it said.

Below OECD average

As a result of the level of GDP in recent years, the ratio of health spending is below the OECD average – 6.7% of GDP compared with OECD average of 8.8% in 2019, the CSO added.

The CSO said using GNI would be a more accurate reflection of spending on healthcare, arriving at the 11.1% mark.

Government funds account for 74% of total current healthcare expenditure, while non-government expenditure was financed by voluntary health contributions, the CSO said.

That was predominantly private health insurance, or 14% of the total, with the remaining 12% paid for by household out-of-pocket payments, it added.

Between 2015 and 2019, there was an increase of 28% in health spending by government, while private health insurance payments grew by 14% and household out-of-pocket expenditure increased by 10%, according to CSO calculations.

It said that out of every €100 spent on healthcare in 2019, €38 was spent in hospitals. Some €20 was spent in out-patient healthcare providers, mainly GPs and dentists, while a further €18 was spent in long-term residential facilities, such as nursing homes and residential disability services, and €13 in retailers such as pharmacies.

Some 56% of all health expenditure related to curative and rehabilitative care, mainly covers in-patient and out-patient care, the CSO said.