ВЪЗДЕЙСТВИЕ НА ЕКОЛОГИЧНАТА ДЕГРАДАЦИЯ ВЪРХУ РАЗХОДИТЕ ЗА ЗДРАВЕОПАЗВАНЕ
IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION ON HEALTH COSTS

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this report is to highlight the relationship between economic growth, environmental well-being, health of population and their impact on health care spending growth. Health is a difficult good to assess and cannot be compared with any other. Because of this feature, every person should have guaranteed access to medical care that does not depend on their income. Health is affected by many factors, the action of which cannot always be kept under control. One of the factors determining health is the quality of the environment, which, together with the quality of life of people, has a direct relationship to both health and health care costs. A large part of the determinants of health are interrelated with the degree of economic development of the country and its level of education. In this regard, the high level of human capital related to health has a positive effect on labor productivity, respectively the rate of economic growth. On the one hand, economic growth causes an increase in the standard of living, but on the other hand worsens environmental conditions, which leads to the spread of diseases and increases the financial burden on the health system. The American Health Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank study the impact of health on economic growth in less developed countries . At the end of the study, they came to the following conclusions: there is a relationship between poverty, inequality and the accumulation of human capital, as well as between variations in economic growth and social development . Even under these conditions, life expectancy has increased, although health policies implemented in different areas of the same country lead to health inequalities. The present study covers data for 20 European Union countries. In the course of the analysis, the ratios between the following indicators are reflected ( GDP per capita, level of environmental pollution, (ratio of health care expenditure to GDP), and the effects of health care (expressed as infant mortality, life expectancy and frequency of various diseases) . The obtained results confirmed the interdependence between economic growth and health care , which is complex and leaves its mark on the resources used to finance the health care system.

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