‘Inclusive’ health systems increase healthy life expectancy

Early Abstract:

The paper attempts to investigate whether ‘inclusive’ health systems increase societal welfare, as the latter is expressed through estimates of healthy life expectancy (HLE). The analysis uses publicly available data by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and explores the relationship of HLE at the age of 65 (HLE_65) with four variables that are representative of institutional ‘inclusivity’ or ‘extractiveness’ of health systems. Results indicate that HLE_65 is positively associated with healthcare system institutional ‘inclusivity’ as expressed in terms of (a) the share of public healthcare expenditure and (b) spending on preventive care. On the contrary, HLE_65 is inversely associated with the strength of ‘extracting’ characteristics of the system, such as (c) the market power of physicians and (d) the share of specialists in the total number of physicians.
In this light, the development of health policies that aim to strengthen ‘inclusive’ institutions, such as the focus on prevention, financial protection, and  primary care, could have a significant positive impact in collective welfare and social cohesion – especially for populations in rural, remote and less developed parts of the world.