A decade of growth in public and private pharmaceutical expenditures: the case of Belgium 1990-1999.
OBJECTIVE
To make a systematic, transparent, internationally comparable description of trends (1990-1999) in total, public and private (co-payment + out-of-pocket) spending on pharmaceuticals in Belgium.


METHODS
Belgium, a western European country, with a Bismarck-type universal coverage healthcare system. NATURE OF THE STUDY: Descriptive analysis of time-series.


METHODS
Collaborative data gathering effort between academic and private research institutes and IMS health.


RESULTS
Mean annual growth rate was 3.9% for total, 5.3% for public, and 2.0% for private drug expenditures (expressed in constant 1999 EUR). The ratio of public to private spending shifted from 53.4% to 60.3%. Of the private spending, one third was co-payment for reimbursed medication and two thirds was out-of-pocket payment for non-reimbursed medication.


CONCLUSIONS
Co-operation between several data gathering constituencies within one country was necessary to achieve completeness and detail in data collection on out-of-pocket payments for non-reimbursed medicines, and hence in total drug expenditures. Discrepancies were found between the estimate of the public/private mix and OECD health data 2000 for public drug spending.
Vander Stichele
R H
RH
Heymans Institute of Pharmacology, Ghent University, Belgium. robert.vanderstichele@ugent.be
Peys
F
F
Van Tielen
R
R
Van Eeckhout
H
H
van Essche
O
O
Seys
B
B
D001530:Belgium; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000639:trends*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000191:economics; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations