[EQ] Budget crises, health, and social welfare programmes

Budget crises, health, and social welfare programmes

BMJ 2010; 340:c3311 doi: 10.1136/bmj.c3311 (Published 24 June 2010)

BMJ 2010; 340:c3311

David Stuckler, researcher 12, Sanjay Basu, physician3, Martin McKee, professor of European public health4

1 Department of Sociology, Oxford University, Oxford

2 Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London UK

3 Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco and Division of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital

4 European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Available at: http://bit.ly/ddkipc

"…..Governments may feel they are protecting health by safeguarding healthcare budgets, the authors argue that social welfare spending is as important, if not more so, for population health

 

The recession of 2008 has had profound economic consequences for many countries. How and when to reduce budget deficits was a major focus in the recent general election in the United Kingdom and continues to make headlines around the world. The new government has already begun to make large cuts in public expenditure,1 2 even though the UK's projected underlying debt, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), is less than that of other industrialised countries, it has longer than many other countries before it is required to refinance loans (table 1⇓), and the actual deficit in 2009-10 was considerably less than expected.

Leading economists have widely divergent views about whether the cuts will aid or hinder economic recovery,3 4 but have paid scant attention to the potential effects of reductions in health and social expenditure on population health.5 We examine historical data for insights into how lower levels of public spending might affect health….."

 

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