The global economic crisis which began in 2008 has had a dramatic effect on health spending across OECD countries. Estimates of expenditure on health released back in 2012 showed that, for the first time, health spending had slowed markedly or fallen across many OECD countries after years of continuous growth. As a result, close to zero growth in health expenditure was recorded on average in 2010. Preliminary estimates suggested that the low or negative growth in health spending was set to continue in many OECD countries in following years...