Health expenditure data for policy: Health accounts, national accounts or both?

Compatibility of statistical frameworks and comparability of data are aspects of statistical quality. This paper explores comparability of data from National Accounts (NA) and Care Accounts/health accounts (CA&HA) of the Netherlands. Although based on the same sources, differences result from specificities of each framework, making data adjustments necessary. Data comparison of major aggregates and household spending is a means for verification and for triangulation of sources. Monitoring household spending on health is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The usability of NA data for household consumption estimates is key to judge plausibility of household spending levels. However, definitions, coverage and valuation in NA and CA&HA should be understood to benefit from the use of NA data for HA. More than in the concepts used the strength of NA is the way NA are usually produced compared with HA. Key is the integrated analysis including supply and demand to verify the comprehensiveness and consistency. It is concluded that SUT data of NA on consumption of human health and social care can be used for judging plausibility of HA household spending estimates, and, in the absence of the latter, NA data can directly be used. The case of the Netherlands shows that policy measures can have a large impact on the validity of using NA for the estimation of household spending.