Factors such as how care is organised and prioritised across providers, what the population needs are, and the various input costs, all affect how health spending is distributed across different services. Curative and rehabilitative care services comprise the greatest share – typically accounting for almost 60% of all health spending across Asia-Pacific reporting countries (Figure 6.8). Medical goods (mostly retail pharmaceuticals) take up a further 16.3%, followed by a growing share on preventive care, which in 2021 averaged around 9.7% of health spending. Administration and overall governance of the health system, together with ancillary services and long-term care covered the remainder. Across OECD countries, long-term care and pharmaceuticals accounted for a higher share of healthcare spending as compared to Asia-Pacific reporting countries.
The structure of spending across the various types of care can vary considerably by country. Around three‑quarters of health spending in China, Cambodia and Sri Lanka can be accounted for by curative and rehabilitative care services. At the other end of the scale, Mongolia, Philippines and Nepal saw curative and rehabilitative services account for less than half of all spending.
Spending on medical goods comprises the second largest category. As such, medical goods accounted for more than a quarter of all health spending in Nepal, Mongolia and the Philippines. Of note that spending on pharmaceuticals consumed in the hospital settings is not included in these figures.
Around one‑quarter of the total spending can be attributed to preventive care in Indonesia, whereas preventive care accounts for only 3.1% of spending in Sri Lanka, and around this level in Australia, Japan and Korea.
When looking at the distribution of health spending by type of provider (Figure 6.9), hospitals take up the highest share; 44.4% on average across the Asia-Pacific region. Following this are retailers and other providers of medical goods with 19.3%, followed by providers of ambulatory care at 15.6% and finally health system administration with 11.9% of health spending. The rest is made up of providers of preventive care providers, ancillary service providers, and long-term care facilities.
While China spends almost three‑quarters in hospitals, this value does not reach even 40% in the case of Nepal, Philippines and Mongolia. Conversely, more than a quarter of all health spending results from retailers in Nepal, Philippines and Mongolia, while these account for 10% or less in China and Malaysia. Finally, spending related to providers of ambulatory care varies from almost one‑third of spending in Korea down to Mongolia, China and Philippines which spend less than 4%.
