Health care policy uncertainty, real health expenditures and health care inflation in the USA

Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Matter for Healthcare Expenditure in China? A Spatial Econometric Analysis

“…In recent years, a large and growing body of literature has investigated the determinants of healthcare expenditure, such as business cycles (2), economic overheating (3), economic activity (4), economic crisis (1,5), and other factors (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The most studied determinant is economic growth, which is an important demand-side driver of healthcare expenditure (2,11,12). Some studies show that healthcare expenditure is significantly positive with GDP because the demand for healthcare services will rise with the increase of income (4,11,13).…”

“…In addition to the factors above, government policies have a key role in determining healthcare expenditure (11). Some studies show that governments can influence healthcare expenditure by formulating health policies to meet their objectives (16)(17)(18).…”

“…Some studies show that governments can influence healthcare expenditure by formulating health policies to meet their objectives (16)(17)(18). For example, Cheng and Witvorapong (11) find that health policy uncertainty exerts a negative impact on health expenditures. Potrafke (19) investigates the impact of electoral motives on public healthcare expenditure using the data of 18 OECD countries and shows that the public healthcare expenditure increase significantly before election year for political opportunism of the incumbent government.…”

“…Economic policy uncertainty (henceforth EPU) represents the uncertainty of macroeconomic policies (20). The rise or fall of EPU has an impact on the economy and may prompt demanders and suppliers in the healthcare services market to respond in ways that policymakers cannot foresee (11,(21)(22)(23). Up to now, however, far too little attention has been paid to investigate the impact of EPU on healthcare expenditure in emerging market countries.…”

“…The most studied determinant is economic growth, which is an important demand-side driver of healthcare expenditure ( 2 , 11 , 12 ). Some studies show that healthcare expenditure is significantly positive with GDP because the demand for healthcare services will rise with the increase of income ( 4 , 11 , 13 ). Furthermore, some studies find that other macroeconomic factors can also affect healthcare expenditure.…”