If life expectancy in Europe has increased by 5 years in the space of 25 years, access to healthcare and hospital services still vary greatly from one country to another, according to the latest OECD report. .
According to the latest report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average life expectancy of Europeans has increased by 5 years in the space of 25 years. Yet inequalities persist between countries.
France and Italy, for example, are among the countries where people live the longest, eight years longer than in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania, countries where life expectancy remains the lowest.
Reasons which, on a European scale, can be explained in particular by the inequality of access to healthcare within EU countries. In Bulgaria, for example, the economic crisis caused the temporary loss of universal health coverage for many inhabitants of the country. Same scenario in Greece.
Regarding serious diseases such as cancer or lightning accidents (heart attack), disparities between European countries also remain. In Hungary, the risk of dying 30 days after hospitalization following a heart attack is twice as high as in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden or Denmark.
Reduction of healthcare costs
Between 2009 and 2012, health spending fell in half of the EU countries. A positive finding at first glance but which in reality is more mixed because it corresponds both to a drop in drug prices, a reduction in the fees paid to healthcare providers and, therefore, a greater financial participation on the part of patients, but also to a reduction in the workforce and wages in the health sector.
National disparities
In addition, health-related expenses are not the same according to economic income and socio-professional class. Differences which widen further at the national level. In fact, individuals with unmet medical needs are twice as numerous among low-income people than in the general population, and four times more than among high-income people.
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