Health care bill reaches $3245 per Canadian

Total spending on health in Canada is projected to have reached $112 billion and to have accounted for 9.8% of the gross domestic product in 2002, the Canadian Institute for Health Information says. This compares with projected totals of $106 billion and 9.7% in 2001.

Figure.

The shares of the expenditure pie held by the public and private sectors are holding steady at about 71% and 29%, respectively. However, in the case of drugs, about 65% of spending is done through private sources, such as employer-provided insurance or the consumer's wallet.

Over time, data on health expenditures can be adjusted to eliminate the effects of inflation. In terms of these constant dollars, there were decreases in per capita spending for 4 years in the early 1990s. In recent years there have been spending increases of between 3% and 5% each year. In 2000, spending averaged $3006 per person in Canada, compared with adjusted per capita forecasts of $3172 in 2001 and $3245 for 2002.

Drugs continue to represent a growing share of expenditures. They accounted for 15.4% of total spending in 2000, up 35% from the 11.4% level set a decade earlier. Drug spending is forecast to exceed 16% by 2002. In contrast, physicians' share of total expenditures has decreased from 15.2% of the total in 1990 to 13.3% in 2000.

After some years of decreased expenditures between 1991 and 1997, capital spending is again on the rise, and has averaged double-digit percentage increases in recent years. Between 1990 and 2000, spending in this area increased by 65%. — Lynda Buske, Associate Director of Research, CMA