Ageing and Health Care Expenditure Growth

The ageing of populations continues to put stress on health care expenditure in many countries.
Common wisdom suggests that the impact of ageing upon health care expenditure growth is
modest; the bulk of health care expenditure growth is due to continued medical-technological
progress. Accounting for the relations between demography, health insurance and medical-technological progress produces a different picture. It increases the role of demography and
that of health insurance. The implication is that, if current health care policies remain
unchanged, health care expenditure will continue to grow faster in the future than common
wisdom suggests.