Health spending: a test for capitalism?

The inexorable rise in health care spending around the world could prove a major test for capitalism, according to Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. He says the increase in incomes, the aging of the population and new technologies have enabled people to live longer and to improve their quality of life, but that this has meant growth in health spending more than 3.5% higher than the rate of revenue growth in the USA, for example, over several decades.

Health spend to reach 30% of GDP by 2030

Some economists suggest that this spending, which at present accounts for 16% of the US economy, will reach 30% of Gross Domestic Product by 2030. Other countries have reported similar trends. Prof Rogoff says the opening of the 21st century saw the end of all the ideologies that threatened capitalism, but what is happening in health care could change this situation because, in many societies, health is seen as a right.