Abstract:

Health expenditures are expenditures made for the physical and spiritual well-being of a society. Although it varies from country to country, the vast majority of these expenditures are undertaken by the public sector, but it is seen that the share of the private sector is also to an extent that cannot be underestimated. The surplus of the public sector share is a requirement of the understanding of the social welfare state. In addition, there is a correlation between the decency of the public sector in financing health expenditures, increasing human capital to support economic growth and development, regulating income distribution and reducing poverty. Increasing these expenditures, which have multifaceted benefits, is within the goal of all states that accept the welfare state as a principle and desire to improve macroeconomic indicators. The study of health expenditures made in accordance with the stated principles and objectives in the context of Turkey is the main motivation for the preparation of this study. Based on the determined purpose, first of all, general information about health expenditures was given, the importance of expenditures, the relationship between economic growth and development and poverty was mentioned. Then, the indicators related to health expenditures in Turkey were compared with the OECD countries. As a result of the study, it was determined that health expenditures in Turkey remained well below the average of OECD countries. It has been suggested that in order for Turkey to reach the OECD average or even to rise above the average, a significant share of the budget should be allocated to health expenditures.

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