The economics of family planning services.

This 1995 UK study used the most recent available data (for 1991) to determine 1) the cost of family planning (FP) programs to the National Health Service (NHS) 2) the financial return to the public purse of FP provision 3) the cost-effectiveness of the provision of FP and 4) the need for consumer choice in the use of FP and reproductive health services and methods. The methodology was chosen to allow a comparison with Laings 1982 study in which the benefit/cost ratio of FP was determined to be 5.3:1 as compared to 11.1:1 in the present study. The results of this analysis show that FP services represent only 0.5% of the total public expenditure on health care in Britain and only 3% of total family health service expenditure. The use of all currently available methods results in net savings to the NHS because FP service provision is less expensive than all outcomes of unplanned pregnancy (over three million such are avoided each year). Additional savings occur through the avoidance of income maintenance and social welfare provision arising from unplanned pregnancies. The results also show that no form of contraception or service delivery is more advantageous than another. Also the public costs of unplanned pregnancy remain substantial but differ depending upon the circumstances and outcomes of such pregnancies. NHS resource savings were calculated using a measure of output based on number of attenders one based on the number of pregnancies averted and one based on couple years of protection.