[Correspondence] Putting Ireland's health spending into perspective

The Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar recently stated that Ireland spends the fifth highest amount on health in the world, therefore citizens should expect the fifth best health system in the world.1 Meanwhile, the European Commission has expressed concerns about the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the Irish health system.2 However, these observations fail to take into account the fact that the Irish health system is only now recovering from historic long-term underfunding, the effects of which are still being felt.
Source: LANCET - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research