Current health expenditure increased by 4.7% in 2023, reaching around 26.55 billion euros, according to INE estimates, which point to the activity of public and private hospitals and clinics and private clinics.
According to the Satellite Account of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) 2023, the value of current health expenditure, of 26,559.6 million euros (2,574.2 euros ‘per capita’), is equivalent to 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to preliminary data, current public expenditure (change of 3.7%) and private (6.6%) continued to increase due to the growth in the activity of public and private hospitals and private care providers outpatient healthcare services, such as medical and dental offices and medical clinics with various specialties.
In 2022, current health expenditure had risen by 5.6%, totaling 25.37 billion euros, corresponding to 10.5% of GDP and 2,463.4 euros ‘per capita’, says INE, indicating that ” the continued recovery of non-covid-19 assistance started in 2021 was the main cause for this evolution”.
This year, current public expenditure represented 64.8% of current expenditure, 0.4 percentage points (pp) less than in 2021 (65.2%), according to INE data that are final for the year 2021, provisional for 2022 and preliminary for 2023, the latter being prepared based on information available until the end of April 2024.
For 2023, INE estimates that the relative weight of current public expenditure will continue to decrease (-0.6 pp) as a result of lower growth than that of private current expenditure.
It also states that in 2023 current public expenditure will have increased by 3.7%, “mainly reflecting the increase in personnel costs of public providers”.
“This year, the sharp reduction in spending on the covid-19 vaccination process and COVID-19 tests (carried out in pharmacies and laboratories) had a negative effect on the evolution that of public expenditure”, highlights INE.
According to the satellite account, current private expenditure will have grown by 6.6% in 2023 due to the increase in assistance activity by private providers, namely hospitals and outpatient healthcare providers.
Public hospital expenses grew 7.8% as a result of the increase in intermediate consumption (pharmaceutical products, clinical consumables and others) and personnel costs (hiring, career repositioning and others).
According to INE, “these increases reflect, in particular, the integration of Hospital de Loures EPE into the universe of public hospitals, which had been managed under a public-private partnership until January 18, 2022”.
Compared to the 22 Member States of the European Union with available information, Portugal recorded in 2022 the 11th largest increase in current health expenditure (5.6%) and occupied the 6th position in the ranking of countries with the greatest weight in GDP (10.5%).
In the publication, INE also presents information on the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) of healthcare providers (including Research and Development institutions – R&D and higher education) for 2021, as well as the GFCF of public healthcare providers for the year 2022.
In 2021, the GFCF of healthcare providers increased by 9.3% and represented 6% of the total GFCF of the national economy.
“For 2022, provisional data indicate a slight decrease in the GFCF of public providers (-1.1%) resulting from the decrease in investment by public hospitals (-7.3%) in medical equipment, which did not offset the increase in GFCF from healthcare system administration and financing service providers (72.5%) due essentially to the acquisition of software licenses “, he highlights.
