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Health care system efficiency and life expectancy: A 140-country study
Virginia Zarulli1, Elizaveta Sopina2, Veronica Toffolutti3
1Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Plos One
|July 9, 2021
Summary
Health system efficiency varies globally, impacting life expectancy. Improving efficiency could add years to life, especially in less developed nations, by addressing unemployment and inequality.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Economics
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Disparities in life expectancy exist among countries with similar health expenditures.
- Health care system efficiency is a potential factor explaining these output differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the health system efficiency of 140 countries using life expectancy as an output.
- To quantify the potential improvement in life expectancy achievable through enhanced efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Output-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) was employed.
- Efficiency was measured by the distance to the best practice frontier.
- National data from Human Development Data were utilized.
Main Results:
- The average potential life expectancy increase was 5.47 years.
- The least efficient countries could gain 11.78 years, while the most efficient could gain 0.83 years.
- In lower education countries, reducing unemployment and income inequality improved life expectancy without increasing health spending.
Conclusions:
- Significant variations in health system efficiency exist globally.
- Potential gains in life expectancy are substantial, particularly for less efficient systems.
- Socioeconomic factors like unemployment and inequality are key drivers of life expectancy, especially in lower-resource settings.
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