Healthcare: spending

Employees are offered medical insurance coverage medical, dental and healthcare spending accounts a 401 (k) plan pension life insurance disability coverage discounts on Honeywell products, as well as on mortgage fees, hotel stays, and automobiles and counseling services. 

The effectiveness of various measures to contain expenditure on medicines in the UK can only be assessed in the context of the situation in other European Union countries. Table 21.1 gives data for the total expenditure on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), expenditure on medicines as a percentage of total healthcare spend, the national pharmaceutical industry s research and development expenditure in euro-millions, the general price index and the medicines price index nationally compared to a European price of 100, and the national pharmaceutical consumption per capita expressed as defined daily doses (DDD). These comparisons are based on OECD Health Data 2000. 

A recent survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed that pharmaceuticals accounted for more than 10% of total health spending in most countries, but that in France they accounted for over 20% of healthcare spending (56) despite the fact that it has one of the strictest pricing systems in Europe (32). A combination of low prices and a high level of government-reimbursement have given patients and physicians little incentive to cut consumption. 

Table 7.2 shows the regulatory authorities in selected countries. A summary of the health system, both public and private in selected countries, is given in Appendix 9. It shows the %GDP each country spends on healthcare, per capita health expenditure, number of hospital beds, and doctors/1000 population. 

The cost to bring a new drug to market has risen from 318 million to 802 million from 1991 to 2000, respectively. Clinical costs represent the majority of this spend ( 467 million vs 335 million in 2000). In addition, the increase in clinical costs over this same time period ( 104 million in 1991 vs 467 million in 2000) far exceeded that of the increase in preclinical costs ( 214 million in 1991 vs 335 million in 2000) (2). In order to maintain profitability and growth, given the current economic and regulatory and healthcare realities dis-... 

Today, doctors in large cities make more money than doctors in small towns or rural areas. Just because a doctor s office is in a fancy building or at a fancy address, he or she can charge patients more. Of course, some medical schools cost more than others, but basically all doctors spend a lot of money and a long time in school. There s no proof that graduates of more expensive schools practice in big cities and graduates of less expensive schools practice in small towns. Whether a patient goes to a doctor in a big city or small town, healthcare should cost the same. 

TPC Group offers its employees medical, vision and dental plans prescription drug coverage an employee assistance program healthcare flexible spending accounts and disability coverage. 

Healthcare professionals preceptorships are educational programmes that should facilitate learning and transfer of skills and knowledge from one healthcare professional to another. These programmes allow a local healthcare professional to spend time with a qualified expert in the field, to gain better understanding and insight into a therapeutic area or disease state. 

Despite this, the market is growing rapidly. Overall, in EU states, the proportion of total healthcare costs accounted for by outpatient drug costs rose from 13.3% in 1980 to 15.3% in 1999 (Martikainen, 2002), a faster increase than overall health spending. 

Saudi Arabia offers the most attractive marketing opportunity in the Middle East. It is difficult to find another country that is continuously spending large sums of money on healthcare. The market will hopefully remain dynamic for the foreseeable future. 

There are several reasons to focus on the Far East as part of our review of opportunities for the pharmaceutical industry abroad. In the Far East, there in concrete evidence of continuous rapid economic growth in the region the Far East is the fastest growing pharmaceutical market in the world there is an annual increase in healthcare budgets and spending in most of the Far Eastern countries and the Far East is politically and economically stable. 

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