Social Justice in the EU – INDEX REPORT 2017 / Healthy life expectancy

 Greece still has the sixth-best score on healthy life expectancy. People in Greece can expect an average of 64 healthy life (or disability-free) years. Only Sweden, Malta, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Germany perform equal or better in this respect. The Netherlands and Denmark, each with a value of just below 60 years, fall – somewhat surprisingly – into the lower half with respect to this indicator. While their overall health scores are still high, this suggests that for the number of expected healthy life years, it is not only the quality of and conditions of access to health care that are relevant, but also individual behavior in the sense of healthy or unhealthy lifestyles. In the case of Denmark, which has one of the most inclusive health care systems in the European Union, the country experts point out that “there has been a marked decline in smoking in Denmark in recent years, but obesity rates have increased. The social gradient in health remains strong.”

Italy numbers among those countries to have deteriorated relatively significantly in recent years. Strong regional differences have had an effect on this outcome, but the SGI country experts highlight initially promising efforts to address the regional heterogeneity of health care quality and inclusiveness: “On average, the services provided achieve medium to high standards of quality (a recent Bloomberg analysis ranked the Italian system among the most efficient in the world), but, due to significant differences in local infrastructures, cultural factors, and the political and managerial proficiency of local administrations, the quality of public health care is not nationally uniform. In spite of similar levels of per capita expenditure, services are generally better in northern and central Italy than in southern Italy. In some areas of the south, corruption, clientelism and administrative inefficiency have driven up health care costs. In these regions, lower quality levels and typically longer waiting lists mean that wealthier individuals will often turn to private sector medical care. Regional disparities also lead to a significant amount of health tourism heading north. Early moves in the direction of fiscal federalism are now stimulating efforts to change this situation through the introduction of a system of national quality standards (correlated with resources), which should be implemented across regions.” (Más)


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Social Justice in the EU – INDEX REPORT 2017 / Health & Access