Economic Crisis' Repercussions on European Healthcare Systems

The economic crisis of the late 2000's had numerous social and political repercussions on most European countries. In this paper we aim to study the influence of the austerity measures deemed by the economic and financial meltdown on one of the most vulnerable and important systems in any country: healthcare. The empiric approach uses panel data analysis to highlight the effects of the economic crisis on each of the 34 analyzed countries, during the time span 2006-2012. The advantage of this method resides in the ability to offer both cross-time and cross-section results, as well as interactions. Our findings show a consistent tendency of European governments to diminish the spending on healthcare during the crisis, leading to the increase of out of pocket payments is some countries, which do not have a robust health insurance policy and a decrease in the number of people accessing healthcare services in the other countries. Another notable result is that there is a consistent delay between the economic crisis and the impact on healthcare, yet, when the shock is felt it is most likely to have an influence for some time, even after the economy has recovered. Some side effects could even be permanent as it is the case with hospitals being closed or personnel being laid off. The findings in this paper suggest that in times of economic crisis, the right approach is to maintain the spending levels in healthcare, since otherwise people are exposed to even greater risks such as catastrophic spending, disease or even death. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.