Are healthcare expenditures increasing faster for the elderly than the rest of the population?
The debate about whether health expenditures will increase more or less for the old is conceptually confused because the participants focus on different factors, use different assumptions and, finally, do not connect the predictions to more general theories of demand for health services. Some focus on increases in life expectancy and how this will change the distribution of end-of-life costs. Others focus on how changes in income and technology will affect the relationship between age and health spending. Higher income, and a larger share of the population, will make it more profitable to invest in treatments aimed at old people, which will lead to steepening in some age groups, but a flattening in other age groups.
Department of Health Economics and Health Management, University of Oslo, Box 1089 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
Hans Olav
HO
Melberg
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000639:trends*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008875:Middle Aged; D018803:Models, Economic; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000191:economics; D013997:Time Factors
elderly; expenditure profile; health expenditure; red herring; steepening