Healthcare expenditure with causal recipes

Healthcare is turning a big business. A better understanding of the factors affecting healthcare expenditure (HCE) can assist expenditure control. This study uses fuzzy set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to explore the sufficient conditions for the outcome, HCE. FsQCA provides causal recipes for each year to show the causal complexities leading to the outcome of that year with high consistencies. The three most recurrent causal recipes are: (1) longevity countries with many doctors and aging population; (2) longevity and rich countries with many doctors; and (3) longevity and rich countries with aging population. The analysis also shows strong predictive validities. The causal recipes of the first few years can successfully forecast the causal recipe(s) of following years.