TÁRKI was Hungary's representative in the policy-oriented research Ageing, Health Status and Determinants of Health Expenditure (AHEAD). The project sought to refine the existing estimates of the links between reported states of health and use of medical services. As well as looking at the effects of ageing on health care, the research considered the link between health expenditure and fertility rates, and the demands placed on health services by non-native populations. Particular attention was paid to the cost of care near death. An important aspect of this research was that the work was carried out in a way to provide not only the familiar projections and scenarios, but also standard deviations and confidence limits for the prediction of key variables such as healthy life expectancy and demand-driven expenditure levels.
With the general goal of 'investigating into different key factors driving health care expenditures and in particular their interaction with particular reference to ageing', the strategic objectives of AHEAD were:
- An assessment of pressures on health spending in the EU and in selected candidate countries, looking both at those arising directly from ageing and at those affected by changing incomes, social change and methods of expenditure control.
- The development of models embedded in EXCEL spreadsheets for projecting future health spending.
- Estimation of confidence limits for these projections.
Click here to download the Country report - Hungary (written by Edit Remák, Róbert I. Gál, Renáta Németh)