Canadian Health Care Costs
Canadian health care is funded through the general revenues of both the federal and provincial and territorial governments. The largest portions of general revenue come from income taxes and consumption taxes.
In 2008, spending on health care in Canada was estimated to reach close to $172 billion.
The costs for providing care vary across Canada. The top three areas of provincial/territorial spending for health care are hospitals, drugs and physicians.
A breakdown of actual costs for various surgeries or procedures is unavailable partly due to the methods of funding and insufficient data.
The federal government provides block funding for heath care to the provinces and territories. This type of funding is also used by the provinces and territories for their health authorities or networks.
The exact amount of money individual Canadians spend for their health care is unknown. The information and data required for individuals to assess their cost-benefit ratio or value-for-money in Canadian health care is unavailable.
Any estimates for the amount of money individuals spend on their health care would need to include the actual amount they contribute annually through taxation, the actual costs of the health services they use within any given year, and the actual amount of any additional costs they incur for treatment and care at home, in another province or territory, or outside of the country.
A value-for-money assessment would also need to consider an individual’s access to information, the choices available regarding personal health treatment and care options and forms of payment.
Sources:
“Spending on health care to reach $5,170 per Canadian in 2008 “
Canadian Institute for Health Information
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=media_13nov2008_e
Canada Health Act Annual Report 2007-2008
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/cha-lcs/2008-cha-lcs-ar-ra/index-eng.php
Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index 2009, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, May 25, 2009
http://www.fcpp.org/main/publication_detail.php?PubID=2779