Public Subsidy Of Health Care And Health Outcomes In OECD Countries

Abstract

This study determines if differences in per capita health care cost and health outcomes among OECD countries can be explained by the extent to which national health expenditures is publicly financed. The study controls, whenever multicollinearity issues can be avoided, for indicators of the quality of the health care system, health inputs and health risk factors. Using multiple regression analysis, the study finds that the quality of the health care system, not the extent of public subsidy, is the more statistically significant determinant of the cross-country variance in health outcomes.