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Public healthcare expenditure and COVID-19 mortality in Spain and in Europe
F J Elola-Somoza1, M C Bas-Villalobos2, J Pérez-Villacastín2
1Fundación Instituto para la Mejora de la Asistencia Sanitaria, Madrid, Spain.
Objective:
To analyze the association between public health expenditure per capita and the mortality rate due to COVID-19 in Europe and Spain.
Material And Methods:
Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare and contrast the mortality rate due to COVID-19 between countries and autonomous communities with higher and lower public health expenditure per capita than the mean.
Results:
No correlation between the public health expenditure per capita and the mortality rate due to COVID-19 (r: 0.3; p = 0.14) was found among European countries or Spain's Autonomous Communities (r: 0.03; p = 0.91). No significant differences were found when comparing the mortality rate due to COVID-19 among the public health expenditure per capita groups.
Conclusions:
The available evidence does not support association between «low» public healthcare expenditure and the poor outcomes observed in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased funding for the Spanish National Health System should be earmarked for structural reforms to increase its social efficiency.
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