Seminar Series 10: Lecture 4 - Dr Aaron Reeves

Does austerity harm health? 

More than 6 years after the beginning of the Great Recession, constraints on financial resources continue to affect European health systems. As new data steadily becomes available, there has been growing debate on the consequences of the crisis and how best to respond. Some countries are implementing substantial reductions to health and social welfare spending, while others have made additional efforts to protect the most vulnerable. The debate extends to whether these policies are impacting health. Some governments deny any serious problems, indeed pointing to research suggesting recessions may be good for individual’s health. Others point to emerging problems, such as increases in consultations for mental illness, suicides, outbreaks of infectious diseases, and shortages of essential medication. Policy-makers debate whether austerity is the right approach to the crisis and whether the human cost of austerity is an unfortunate but necessary consequence of the financial crisis.

The session: 1) Reviewed what has happened to public spending, particularly on health and social welfare, in the EU since the start of the financial crisis. 2) Summarised the impact of the economic crisis on population health and access to health services in Europe. 3) Drew lessons from the recession on mitigating the effect of economic downturns for people’s health and health systems.