In Belize public expenditure on health accounted for 4.2% of GDP and 12.2% of total public expenditure in 2019, while out-of-pocket (OOP) spending on health accounted for 21.8% of total health expenditure. OOP is below the Latin America and Caribbean average of 29.9%. The 2018 estimate of catastrophic health expenditure was 6.2%.
Belize’s public health system, primarily financed through tax revenues, comprises three main institutions: the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW), the Social Security Board (SSB) and National Health Insurance (NHI), created in 2000. As the purchasing arm of the MOHW, NHI has applied mixed models of healthcare delivery that include the participation of public, private and nongovernmental providers.
