Spending on Health Care in the Netherlands: Not Going so Dutch

The Netherlands is among the top spenders on health in the OECD. We document the life-cycle profile, concentration and persistence of this expenditure using claims data covering both curative and long-term care expenses for the full Dutch population. Spending on health care is strongly concentrated: the 1 per cent of individuals with the highest levels of expenditure account for one-quarter of the aggregate in any one year. Averaged over three years, the top 1 per cent still account for more than a fifth of the total, indicating a very high degree of persistence in the largest expenses. Spendi... Mehr ...