# How do countries like Japan or the UK only spend 7% of GDP on healthcare **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620 "2004-07-30T18:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/1 "2004-07-30T18:22:40Z")
Sites like this one [http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:iM5O2VV-t8QJ:www.kingsfund.org.uk/pdf/ebint-10.PDF+spending+healthcare+GDP+UK+Japan&hl=en](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:iM5O2VV-t8QJ:www.kingsfund.org.uk/pdf/ebint-10.PDF+spending+healthcare+GDP+UK+Japan&hl=en) Show the UK and Japan and Italy spend under 8% of GDP. the US currently spends around 15%. These countries also have universal access. So how do they get their costs so low, especially when compared to other countries with universal access like Canada or Germany who spend around 10-11%? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/2 "2004-07-30T18:50:33Z")
Well, I imagine it the size of the GDP vs. the size of the population. I also imagine it has to do with how much the health care costs to deliver. I know that US physicians get paid WAY more than Canadian physicians do. More $$ to provide the same level of health care. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/3 "2004-07-30T20:00:54Z")
GDP _is_ proportional to population size, to allow comparisons like this one to make sense. (GNP, gross national product, is the _total_ product of a nation.) What’s clear from that cite, and from other similar ones I’ve seen, is that the big difference between the US and just about every other country is the amount spent on _private_ healthcare, in addition to an almost-equal public expenditure. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/4 "2004-07-30T20:24:38Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > GDP _is_ proportional to population size, to allow comparisons like this one to make sense. (GNP, gross national product, is the _total_ product of a nation.) Wha??? GDP is just GNP without the net import/exports outside the country. It is true that either number can be expressed as per capita but that should be explicitly noted. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/5 "2004-07-30T20:30:27Z")
Sorry, yes, I’m getting myself confused :smack: … …but still, even allowing for the differences in per capita income, the expenditure by the other countries is far less. (And note that Japan has a _higher_ per capita income than the US) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/6 "2004-07-30T20:33:02Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > What’s clear from that cite, and from other similar ones I’ve seen, is that the big difference between the US and just about every other country is the amount spent on _private_ healthcare, in addition to an almost-equal public expenditure. What does “private vs. public” mean for US health care? I thought most people were insured by private companies, except for people eligible for Medicare - is only the latter counted as “public”? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-countries-like-japan-or-the-uk-only-spend-7-of-gdp-on-healthcare/257620/7 "2004-07-30T20:59:15Z")
Things that IMHO lead to unusually-high per-capita health-care expenditures in the States:[ul][li]Larger expenditure on billing and administration due to complexity of multiple-insurer environment. [/li] This Pit thread about the general inefficiency of the US [hospital billing system](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=268858) may go some way to helping illustrate this.[_]Policies that favour expensive crisis-averting procedures later rather than steady but lower expenditures now. The US is not alone in this, of course.[_]Higher wages for health personnel.[_]Higher prices for drugs.[_]If the figures include elective procedures such as cosmetic surgery, the higher average wealth of the US, might leader to higher per-capita spending.[/ul]