The pandemic, which has plunged the world into chaos and in its second year is still not coming to an end, highlighted the importance and possibility, or impossibility of health care. 

Eurostat comparative data, which publishes the purchasing power parity indicator for health and hospital services for the countries of the European Union and the Western Balkans show that in Albania health care is 34 times more expensive than the average of 27 European Union countries. 

At these levels, Albanians have among the most expensive health care costs in Europe. In the region, the record is held by Serbia, which has this indicator 41 times higher than the EU average. The most expensive in Europe is Hungary, which has this indicator 163. After Albania is ranked North Macedonia (19.7), Norway (19.5), Sweden (17.5). 

Even for hospital services, Albania is ranked among the most expensive. The purchasing power parity index for hospital services for Albania is 18.7 (from 1 which is the EU reference average), the fifth most expensive in Europe after Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Serbia. After Albania is ranked North Macedonia (17), Czech Republic (13.6), Denmark (10). 

In the region, treatment is cheaper in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) price level shows how much currency a particular quantity of goods and services costs in different countries, eliminating the effect of price level differences across countries and making them comparable to levels of income. 

According to the common OECD and Eurostat methodology, for health, purchasing power parity (PPP) is calculated by first collecting price information for a representative basket of products and services, averaging them within groups. These product groups are converted into relative prices, which are then weighted and averaged for each level of aggregation (for example hospitals, health care, or GDP). 

Although the prices of health and hospital services, in direct comparison are respectively 28% and 15% of the EU average, (according to Eurostat) due to the much lower revenues that Albania has (as much as 30% of the average EU), in reality treatment in the country costs much more expensive than in the vast majority of EU countries. 

In addition to expensive prices, in relation to income, the costs of out-of-pocket treatment are also high. Other World Bank data show that Albania has the worst performance, as residents spend out of pocket for health services more than anyone else (2014 data), while the state has the lowest per capita spending on the health system. 

Direct out-of-pocket expenditures reach 50% for Albanians, the highest in the region and compared to the European average, while public spending per capita on health was $ 304, the lowest in the region and well below the EU average. 

(Source: Monitor)