Nearly half (44%) of Lebanese households lack medical insurance, according to Beirut-based investment bank, Bank Blominvest, in a recently released report on the country’s healthcare sector.
Among those households with medical coverage, 28% are covered by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), 11% by insurance companies, 5% by public-sector cooperatives, 12% by the armed forces, and 1% by foreigners’ social security.
Calling for a strategic plan to support public health, Bank Blominvest said: “One of the major issues to address is the fact that most of the insured Lebanese under the NSSF lose their benefits upon retirement or loss of job.”
The statistics show that Lebanese homes spent US$1.63 billion on healthcare – or 53.3% of the total spending – in 2012, the latest year for which data are available. Of this amount, $1.15 billion or 71% represented out-of-pocket spending while the remaining $483 million (29%) was paid through insurance.
The Treasury paid for 30.7% of the total healthcare expenditure of $3.06 billion, distributed among the NSSF, the various public-sector unions and the Ministry of Health. The rest was funded by employers (15.5%) and international aid (0.5%).
The figures for 2012 remain representative of the sector’s standing today even if they were collected three years earlier, said Bank Blominvest, citing officials.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, Lebanon spent 7.2% of its 2012 GDP on healthcare. In comparison, the ratio was 17.1% for the US and 11.5% for France. Moreover, the proportion in Lebanon had declined significantly: in 1998, healthcare spending represented 12.4% of GDP.
The ongoing Syrian war has also added pressure to the Lebanese healthcare system, with the World Bank estimating the additional health cost on the government to have reached $92 million between 2012 and 2014. The significant increase in demand for health services also pushed up costs and generated medication shortages for Lebanese.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is paying 75% of hospital bill for the refugees, while the remaining amount should be covered by the Syrian refugees themselves. However, the majority of these patients fail to make these payments.
Lebanon’s population is estimated at 4.5 million, excluding refugees.