Literature review regarding the impact of population aging on healthcare expenditure growth: Organisation for economic co-operation and development member countries and Morocco

Abstract

This study aims to offer an overview of literature published on the relationship between population aging and healthcare expenditure growth in countries where this phenomenon is already significant and in Morocco. The first 19 most cited articles published over the period 1995-2014 are concerned with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries as well as with countries where the impact of aging on healthcare expenditures has been evaluated quantitatively. With regard to Morocco, our research focused on publications from national governments regarding medical consumption growth and its link with age. Reasearch studies on OECD member countries that include proximity of death in explanatory models for healthcare expenditures, conclude that this last can explain better than age healthcare expenditure growth. Four authors highlight that explanatory models for healthcare expenditures which do not take into consideration proximity of death overestimate projection results. Ten studies suggest that healthcare expenditure growth is attributable to factors other than population aging. With regard to Morocco, only a report on compulsory health insurance shows that there is a relationship between age and expenditures since the prevalence of chronic diseases that affect mostly older people entails significant expenditures for compulsory health insurance. Given the speed of the aging in Morocco, it is necessary to conduct studies in order to understand the dynamics of healthcare expenditures.