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Abstract

Surveys conducted in the Western world all show that health-care costs tend to rise faster than general living costs. In the USA they rose from US$ 141 per person per year in 1960 through US$ 341 in 1970, US$ 1052 in 1980, and US$ 2689 in 1990 to US$ 4094 in 1998. For Switzerland the per person health-care costs were US$ 2412 in 1998 (see ◘ Fig. 12.2) and for Germany US$ 2222. All in all, the USA spent US$ 1100 billion on health care in 1998, Switzerland US$ 37 billion (see ◘ Fig. 12.1). In 2003, these costs rose to US$ 40 billion in Switzerland (CHF SFR 50 billion). They make up 11% (Swiztzerland) to 14% (USA) of the gross domestic product (cf. ◘ Fig. 12.3).

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von Ammon, K., Gasser, R., Bornhöft, G., Maxion-Bergemann, S. (2011). Cost-effectiveness of Homeopathy. In: Bornhöft, G., Matthiessen, P.F. (eds) Homeopathy in Healthcare – Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20638-2_12

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