Social Differences, Life Expectancy and Health Expenditure Over the Life Course

This study examines the social differences in the use of the health care system based on an analysis of the health care costs of different educational groups over the life course. In a first step, average age cost profiles are determined for men and women by educational level. In a second step, the health care costs of individual cohorts and of the total population are estimated in a dynamic microsimulation model considering changes in life expectancy and the composition of the Austrian population according to age and education. The results confirm that higher education in most stages of life is on average associated with better health and lower health costs. However, due to the positive correlation between education and life expectancy, higher education also has an opposite cost effect. The total effect shows partly different patterns for men and women. Overall, the improvement of the educational structure in the population has a moderate dampening effect on the cost dynamics in the health care system, which compensates for part of the rising costs resulting from higher life expectancy.