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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Constrained Public Health Care Spending and Steady State in Health Outcomes in Nigeria

Dominic U. Nwanosike, Chukwuma Agu, Julius C. Nwanya, Osita Ogbu, Chiamaka Mirian Raymond, H. I. Mbachu

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i11/15727

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Health expenditure is described as expenses on health, which any government incurs for the maintenance and provision of healthcare services, for the good of the health system, society and the economy. The total government expenditure on health for Nigeria as for 1990, 2000, 2017, 2018 2020, and 2021 are N658.1million, N202.8million, N304billion, N340billion, N547billion and N427billion respectively. The belief is that this would improve the health of the citizenry, which can be translated into better human capital base with its multiplier effects on the health outcomes and status of the economy and as well as the economic growth and development. In modeling the effect of health expenditure on health outcome in Nigeria, the study used multiple regression analysis approach to captures the dynamics of annual health expenditure, cash expenditure on health, health insurance and health tax on health outcome (proxy by life expectancy and infant mortality) within the nation, using data set from World Development Indicator (WDI) from 1985 to 2020. The study found that private health expenditure as the major determinants to steady state growth in health outcome in Nigeria. The study revealed that public health expenditure shows a negative relationship with infant mortality and life expectancy in Nigeria due to constrained healthcare financing. This equally points to the fact that private sector (cash expenditure on health) is more efficient than the constrained public health budget allocations (public health expenditure). The implication of this finding is that private sector (cash expenditure on health) has greater influence on health outcomes especially in infant mortality and life expectancy. The economic implication of this finding is that health services will be obtained at a high cost in Nigeria due to constrained public health spending. That is to say that the principle of excludability is at work in Nigeria health sector thereby making achievement of social optimality in Nigerian health care services impossible. Following the finding of the study, therefore, government should endeavor that all the citizens benefit from health insurance irrespective status.

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In-Text Citation: (Nwanosike et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Nwanosike, D. U., Agu, C., Nwanya, J. C., Ogbu, O., Raymond, C. M., & Mbachu, H. I. (2022). Constrained Public Health Care Spending and Steady State in Health Outcomes in Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(11), 2571 – 2586.