This external study, developed by The European House \u2013 Ambrosetti and supported by IFPMA and Vaccines Europe, underscores the critical role of preventive healthcare, particularly immunisation, in ensuring the economic sustainability of EU health systems.<\/p>\n
The report highlights that embedding preventive measures into fiscal policies can alleviate pressures from demographic and epidemiological transitions, contributing to economic stability and growth. It advocates for a shift towards prevention-based healthcare to address current and future challenges effectively.\u200b<\/p>\n
Over the last decade, the EU economy has experienced slow growth, and it is not expected to grow substantially in the coming years.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the ongoing demographic and epidemiological transition is increasing pressure on public finances, particularly healthcare and social expenditure. The current permacrisis \u2013 encompassing geopolitical and climate-related challenges \u2013 exacerbates these issues and directly threatens fiscal sustainability through slower economic growth, increased Government deficits, and consequently, higher public debt levels. Addressing these intertwined challenges is essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of healthcare, social care, and welfare systems across the EU.<\/p>\n
In this context, there is a need to share a new paradigm that shifts the healthcare model from a reactive (treating sickness) to a proactive system (promoting health), leveraging investments in health prevention. At this critical juncture, the EU has introduced the New Economic Governance Framework (NEGF), which provides an opportunity to consider investments in the healthcare sector \u2013 especially in prevention \u2013 as \u201csocial security investments,\u201d similar to what has been done for investments in defence and the digital and green transitions. Given this new framework, including healthcare investments within the scope of the NEGF would not only allow for greater flexibility in an unstable economic scenario but also lead to increased spending in areas with positive effects on the health and well-being of the population.<\/p>\n
There is already extensive literature discussing the potential advantages of preventive healthcare (promotion of healthy lifestyles, screening programs, and particularly, immunisation strategies). Preventive healthcare not only translates into increased life expectancy and improved quality of life but also yields economic advantages, such as savings in healthcare spending and increased worker productivity, thereby supporting the country\u2019s economic and social growth and resilience. Moreover, the containment of public spending frees up resources that could be dedicated to improving the quality of services provided, R&D for treatments of currently untreatable diseases, and investments in sectors like education or employment.<\/p>\n
Studies suggest that every 1 euro spent on preventive healthcare generates a 14-euro return to the health and social care economy. Regarding immunisation, a recent report has shown that adult immunisation returns 19 times its initial investment to the society and economy, and up to 33 times in the case of pneumococcal immunisation.<\/p>\n
However, today, only a small percentage of national healthcare budgets is spent on prevention, and even less on immunisation (0.5%).<\/p>\n
As these studies show, by focusing on prevention, European countries can mitigate the future burden on their healthcare and welfare systems and promote long-term economic and social resilience. As EU Member States prepare to submit their National Medium-Term Fiscal-Structural Plans to the European Commission by September 20th, 2024, there is a critical window of opportunity to prioritise investments in health prevention. In the future, spending on preventive healthcare can be considered an \u201cinvestment,\u201d as it entails potentially higher growth and reduces future expenditure:<\/p>\n
It is imperative to recognise that the current permacrisis needs to be addressed and overcome with concrete solutions. In this context, embedding preventive healthcare \u2013 and in particular immunisation \u2013 into EU Member States\u2019 fiscal strategies is paramount to promote the economic sustainability of healthcare, social care, and welfare systems, enabling them to adapt and flourish amidst the challenging and unpredictable conditions Europe is facing. Member States must seize this moment to advocate for and implement these changes within their fiscal plans, while EU institutions should endorse this approach when evaluating these plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This external study, developed by The European House \u2013 Ambrosetti and supported by IFPMA and Vaccines Europe, underscores the critical role of preventive healthcare, particularly immunisation, in ensuring the economic sustainability of EU health systems. The report highlights that embedding preventive measures into fiscal policies can alleviate pressures from demographic and epidemiological transitions, contributing to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16370,"template":"","publication_type":[8],"topic":[19],"class_list":["post-16368","publications","type-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publication_type-external-study","topic-vaccines"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n