The Impact of Selected Health, Environment, and Economics Indicators on Health Expenditure in Developed and Developing Countries

Rise in health expenditures is one of the main concerns of householders and policymakers. In this regard, many studies were conducted to assess the determinants of expenditures and environmental quality from a macroeconomic point of view. The goal of this paper was to examine the relationship of health expenditure with environmental quality and economic growth in developed, developing, and less developed countries.
This analytical and correlational study examines the impact of environmental, health, and economic indicators on health expenditure. The required data for 109 countries were collected from the World Health Organization from 1995 to 2011. The collected information was then analyzed with econometric techniques and software Stata 13.
According to the results, access to sanitary sewage systems index – 3.27, (p = 0.00) and energy intensity index – 2.42, (p = 0.01) affected the per capita health expenditure in developed countries. Access to sanitary sewage systems index had effect on per capita health expenditure; - 9.71, (p = 0/00) in developing countries. However, in less developed countries, none of the variables had significant relationship with per capita health expenditures.
According to the results, it can be said that investing in maintenance and improvement of environmental quality can lead to reduced health care costs.