Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News

Drug spending hits $24.8 billion

Wayne Kondro
CMAJ July 04, 2006 175 (1) 22-22-a; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.060659
Wayne Kondro
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Total spending on drugs in Canada increased by 11% last year to $24.8 billion (see Fig. 1), according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information's annual drug expenditures report.

Figure
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint

Fig. 1: Change in total health expenditures by use of funds in Canada, 1985 and 2005. The category “other” includes public health, administration, capital and other health spending. Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information

Drug spending consumed 17.5% of the health care dollar in 2005, up from the 9.5% share it claimed in 1985 when drug outlays tallied $3.8 billion.

CIHI surmised the explosive growth in drug spending was attributable to a wide range of factors, including: higher prices for both brand-name and generic drugs, particularly new products, which are typically introduced to the market at very high levels; aggressive marketing of drugs to physicians and direct-to-consumer advertising by industry; changes in prescription and dispensing practices; inflation; the advent of new drug therapies for once untreatable or under-treated diseases, or for disorders once treated by surgery; and demographic changes, ranging from growth and aging of the population to epidemics or emerging new diseases.

With drugs commandeering an ever larger slice of health spending, the system continues to spend a smaller share of its health care dollar on physicians and hospitals. Spending on physicians rose to $18.2 billion in 2005 from $6 billion in 1985 but dropped from 15.2% of total spending to 12.8%. Hospital spending dropped to 29.9% from 40.8%.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 175 (1)
CMAJ
Vol. 175, Issue 1
4 Jul 2006
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
  • Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter (p 109-116)

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Drug spending hits $24.8 billion
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Drug spending hits $24.8 billion
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Jul 2006, 175 (1) 22-22-a; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.060659

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Drug spending hits $24.8 billion
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Jul 2006, 175 (1) 22-22-a; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.060659
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Saying goodbye to CMAJ News
  • How Canadian hospitals are decreasing carbon emissions
  • National survey highlights worsening primary care access
Show more News

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Medical careers
    • Pharmacology & toxicology

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

CMA Civility, Accessibility, Privacy

 

Powered by HighWire