Press Statement

Preasráiteas

22 June 2021

Go to release: System of Health Accounts 2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (22 June 2021) released System of Health Accounts 2019

Commenting on the release, Elaine O'Sullivan, Statistician, said: “As expected COVID-19 had a dramatic impact on healthcare expenditure in 2020, resulting in an 11% increase in spending or €2.6 billion. Preliminary data indicates that the specific Government sending on COVID-19 was €2.4 billion, which includes €915 million spent on Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), swab kits and ventilators, €215 million can be attributed to testing and contact tracing costs and €315 million was spent on COVID-19 treatment.

When comparing 2019 to 2018 we can see that expenditure on healthcare increased by €1.4 billion, mainly due to an increase in spending by the government of €1.1 billion. Private health insurance payments increased by €125 million in 2019 and out-of-pocket payments by households increased by €89 million.

As Ireland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased in recent years, healthcare as a percentage of GDP has dropped below the OECD average. In 2019, health expenditure in Ireland represented 6.7% of GDP, which is below the OECD average of 8.8%. However, the GNI* measure at 11.1%, which eliminates globalisation effects, might be more useful for international comparison.

Most spending on healthcare was within the curative and rehabilitative area which is to cure or improve the health of individuals. More than €13 billion was spent in this area in 2019, 7% more than 2018.

Hospitals are providers of more expensive healthcare than other settings with €9 billion spent in hospitals in 2019 compared to €8.4b in 2018. Within the hospital setting, 74% of the expenditure is by the government and 24% of payments are by private health insurance companies. The remainder is by households or non-profit organisations.”

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