The impact of the recession on health care expenditure — How does the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia compare to other OECD countries?

In the past few years, several papers have been published in the international literature on the impact of the economic crisis on health and health care. However, there is limited knowledge on this topic regarding the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The main aims of this study are to examine the effect of the financial crisis on health care spending in four CEE countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in comparison with the OECD countries. In this paper we also revised the literature for economic crisis related impact on health and health care system in these countries. OECD data released in 2012 were used to examine the differences in growth rates before and after the financial crisis. We examined the ratio of the average yearly growth rates of health expenditure expressed in USD (PPP) between 2008–2010 and 2000–2008. The classification of the OECD countries regarding “development” and “relative growth” resulted in four clusters. A large diversity of “relative growth” was observed across the countries in austerity conditions, however the changes significantly correlate with the average drop of GDP from 2008 to 2010. To conclude, it is difficult to capture visible evidence regarding the impact of the recession on the health and health care systems in the CEE countries due to the absence of the necessary data. For the same reason, governments in this region might have a limited capability to minimize the possible negative effects of the recession on health and health care systems.

The impact of the recession on health care expenditure — How does the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia compare to other OECD countries?

In the past few years, several papers have been published in the international literature on the impact of the economic crisis on health and health care. However, there is limited knowledge on this topic regarding the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The main aims of this study are to examine the effect of the financial crisis on health care spending in four CEE countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in comparison with the OECD countries. In this paper we also revised the literature for economic crisis related impact on health and health care system in these countries. OECD data released in 2012 were used to examine the differences in growth rates before and after the financial crisis. We examined the ratio of the average yearly growth rates of health expenditure expressed in USD (PPP) between 2008–2010 and 2000–2008. The classification of the OECD countries regarding “development” and “relative growth” resulted in four clusters. A large diversity of “relative growth” was observed across the countries in austerity conditions, however the changes significantly correlate with the average drop of GDP from 2008 to 2010. To conclude, it is difficult to capture visible evidence regarding the impact of the recession on the health and health care systems in the CEE countries due to the absence of the necessary data. For the same reason, governments in this region might have a limited capability to minimize the possible negative effects of the recession on health and health care systems.

Comparing cost-sharing practices for pharmaceuticals and health care services among four central European countries

The paper reviews the existing cost-sharing practices in four Central European countries namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia focusing on patient co-payments for pharmaceuticals and services covered by the social health insurance. The aim is to examine the role of cost-sharing arrangements and to evaluate them in terms of efficiency, equity and public acceptance to support policy making on patient payments in Central Europe. Our results suggest that the share of out-of-pocket payments in total health care expenditure is relatively high (24–27%) in the countries examined. The main driver of these payments is the expenditure on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, which share exceeds 70% of the household expenditure on health care. The four countries use similar cost-sharing techniques for pharmaceuticals, however there are differences concerning the measure of exemption mechanisms for vulnerable social groups. Patient payment policies for health care services covered by the social health insurance are also converging. All the four countries apply co-payments for dental care, some hotel services or in the case of free choice of physician. Also the countries (except for Poland) tried to extend co-payments for physician services and hospital care. However, their introduction met strong political opposition and unpopularity among public.

Preferences of Hungarian consumers for quality, access and price attributes of health care services — result of a discrete choice experiment

In 2010, a household survey was carried out in Hungary among 1037 respondents to study consumer preferences and willingness to pay for health care services. In this paper, we use the data from the discrete choice experiments included in the survey, to elicit the preferences of health care consumers about the choice of health care providers. Regression analysis is used to estimate the effect of the improvement of service attributes (quality, access, and price) on patients’ choice, as well as the differences among the socio-demographic groups. We also estimate the marginal willingness to pay for the improvement in attribute levels by calculating marginal rates of substitution. The results show that respondents from a village or the capital, with low education and bad health status are more driven by the changes in the price attribute when choosing between health care providers. Respondents value the good skills and reputation of the physician and the attitude of the personnel most, followed by modern equipment and maintenance of the office/hospital. Access attributes (travelling and waiting time) are less important. The method of discrete choice experiment is useful to reveal patients’ preferences, and might support the development of an evidence-based and sustainable health policy on patient payments.

A nemzetgazdasági versenyképesség sportszakmai és gazdasági aspektusai = Sport and economic aspects of competitiveness on national level

Tanulmányunk a gazdasági versenyképességgel, kiemelten annak nemzetgazdasági szintű vetületével és a sport esetében történő értelmezésével foglakozik. A gazdasági versenyképesség esetén kiemelten kezeljük az IMD és a WEF versenyképességi rangsorait, a sport esetén pedig szétválasztjuk a hivatásos és a szabadidősportot. A hivatásos sport esetén bemutatjuk a sportszakmai versenyképességet indikáló és a sportszakmai versenyképességre hatással lévő gazdasági és társadalmi mutatókat egyaránt. Összehasonlítási csoportot képeztünk, amelyben Magyarország és a környező országok szerepelnek és a komparatív elemzés kiterjed a gazdasági és a sportszakmai versenyképességre, valamint a sportszakmai versenyképességre ható gazdasági és társadalmi tényezőkre egyaránt. A sportszakmai versenyképességet az olimpiai érmek számával és azok pontértékével mérjük, amit az olimpiák teljes történelmére és az elmúlt 20 év különböző szakaszaira egyaránt vizsgálunk, míg a gazdasági és társadalmi tényezőket csak a mondanivalónk szempontjából legrelevánsabb évekre, az új évezredre vizsgálunk. A hivatásos sporttal kapcsolatos versenyképességi kérdésekből azt a következtetést vontuk le, hogy Magyarország történelmi sportszakmai eredményességének fenntartását a jelen gazdasági és társadalmi tényezők nem igazolják, sőt az elmúlt időszak visszaesését támasztják alá és a Londoni olimpián való szereplésünkkel kapcsolatban inkább az összehasonlítási csoporton belüli további visszacsúszást, mintsem az eredmény javulását támogatják. A tanulmányban azt állítjuk, hogy egyéni, vállalati és makrogazdasági versenyképességet is javíthat a szabadidősport. Mikro szinten, majd makrogazdasági szinten elemeztük a szabadidősport hatásait, valamint próbáltunk választ keresni arra a kérdésre, hogy hogyan válhat az egyén, a vállalat és végső célként a gazdaság versenyképesebbé a fizikai aktivitás által. A kevesebb betegség és egészségügyi kiadás, vagy éppen a kedvezőbb várható élettartami mutatók mellett termelékenység-növekedés, a versenyképességi rangsorokban pedig előkelőbb helyezések érhetők el. ______ Our paper tackles the concept of competitiveness in the national level and interprets it also in the field of sport as well. In the economics field we focus on the competitiveness rankings of IMD and WEF and in the sport field we differentiate between professional and leisure sport. In the case of professional sport we introduce the measures of sport competitiveness and its influencing economic and social factors as well. We have made a peer group which contains Hungary and its neighboring countries and the comparative study tackles the sport competitiveness and the influencing economic and social factors as well. We measure sport competitiveness with the Olympic medal count and the medals point value, which is counted in the whole Olympic history, and different phases of the last 20 years. The economic and social factors are compared only in the new millennia as this is the most relevant time frame of this study. From the competitiveness analysis of professional sport we concluded that the maintenance of Hungary’s historical sport successes is not proved by nowadays economic and social factors, however they support the past years decline. These factors also indicate that in London (2012)we would rather slip one more position back in the peer group, than rise again from our ashes. In our opinion leisure sport could enhance the competitiveness of individuals, companies, and economy also. We analysed the effects of leisure sport on the microeconomic and macroeconomic level, and tried to find answer to that question how could be individuals, companies, and economy more competitive through leisure sport. Besides less illness and health care expenditures, longer life expectancy, productivity growth, countries could be well placed in competitiveness’ rankings.