Health Expenditures in Turkey As Social Consumption Expenditures: A The oretical Based Evaluation

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the function of health expenditures as a public expenditures within the capitalist mode of production, based on James O'Connor's work titled Financial Crisis of the State. In this study, the position of the state within the capitalist relations of production is examined and accordingly, the reflection of the functions of the state to the state budget is revealed. This reflection in the state budget is revealed by the categorization of public expenditure items in the context of the functions of the state. While public expenditure items within the scope of the state budget have been classified by O'Connor as a whole, expenditure items are not subjected to a definite distinction in terms of their sub-levels. However, there are direct and indirect references to the category of some expenditure items such as health expenditures. In this study overall structure of the healthcare system in Turkey and health expenditures in the general budget is evaluated in order to determine the category of health expenditures in Turkey according to the budget categorization of O'Connor. Health expenditures of Turkey can not be classified under one category because of the fact that health expenditures under the general budget involved into two categories such as Central Government budget and Social Security Institution budget. With this study, the general acceptance that health expenditures are social welfare expenditures is questioned by revealing the importance of the distinction within the scope of the general budget for the health expenditures.