A new study by the World Health Organization finds that most countries will have the technological and the financial ability to reach universal health coverage in the next 13 years, according to authors.

The document [pdf], published today in The Lancet, estimates that “an additional $274 billion spending on health is needed per year by 2030 to make progress” towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).

The study, titled, “Financing transformative health systems towards achievement of the health Sustainable Development Goals: a model for projected resource needs in 67 low-income and middle-income countries,” is nicknamed the ‘SDG Health Price Tag’ by the WHO.

The number of US$274 billion a year is described as a “progress scenario,” while an “ambitious” scenario in which health system targets are reached would cost US$371 billion, according to the study. That ambitious scenario would save some 97 million lives and significantly increase life expectancy, it says.

Agnès Soucat, one of the co-authors of the study, said during a virtual press briefing today that the paper “gives us hope” that most countries can finance health services for all by 2030. Only a handful of very low income countries will still need development assistance for health.

It is a very hopeful message, she said, to see that by 2030, most countries will be able both technically and financially to reach universal health coverage and SDG3.

According to the study, all countries “will need to strengthen investments in health systems to expand service provision in order to reach SDG 3 health targets, but even the poorest can reach some level of universality.”

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a separate article published in The Lancet today titled “All roads lead to universal health coverage,” said, “I know from personal experience that it is possible for all countries to achieve universal health coverage, including key public health interventions.”

“Universal health coverage is ultimately a political choice. It is the responsibility of every country and national government to pursue it,” he added.

According to a WHO press release, “The SDG Health Price Tag does not prescribe what countries should spend on health, but is intended as a tool to inform further research. It also highlights that achieving universal health coverage and the other health targets requires not only funding but political will and respect for human rights.”

WHO plans to update the estimates every five years and will include other health-related targets and diseases as more evidence becomes available, the release said.