According to the basic definition of health cost, health cost is defined as the total amount of money spent on health care by the whole society in a certain period of time (usually one year) in a country or region, including the total amount of money spent on the provision of health care services in the form of live labor and materialized labor, which refers to the human resources for health, different professions and technical titles of health technicians, and materialized labor refers to drugs, health facilities, medical equipment, health materials and intellectual property rights, including information. Living labor refers to human resources for health, health technicians of different professions and technical titles, and materialized labor refers to medicines, health facilities, medical equipment, health materials, and intellectual property rights, including information.
Health costs are also called "health financial resources". The state, society and individuals in a certain period of time, in order to achieve the prevention and treatment of disease, improve people's health, the economic resources invested in health care services.