A study suggests that public healthcare spending is increasing at an unsustainable pace
Citing bloating healthcare budgets and increasing wait times, a new report from the Frasier Institute suggests that Canada needs to reconsider its system of public healthcare delivery.
The study titled Sustainability of Health Care Spending in Canada — authored by Bacchus Barua, Milagros Palacios and Joel Emes — reports that healthcare expenditures have grown faster than other government program spending, as well as the Canadian economy at large, according to the Toronto Sun.
The report states that healthcare spending has gone up by an average of 116% across Canada. It is also expected to outpace the rate of economic growth: by 2031, it could consume more than 45% of the program budgets for Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
Despite that, the number of doctors per patient in the country is among the lowest for nations with universal health coverage. Canada is similarly lacking when it comes to hospital beds per patient.
“What did all that money do?” Barua said.
Governments may have asked themselves the same question as they tried to slow down the increases in healthcare spending in recent years. However, Barua noted that the pressure to care for an aging and growing population will only build up moving forward.
“[T]he status quo isn’t working,” he said. “And the notion that you can just spend more money on it is over.”
For Barua, the solution to the current predicament is to give private sector entities a bigger role in healthcare delivery, similar to the systems implemented in Sweden and Germany. In such countries, it is common to open up private-sector healthcare options or help temper demand by charging co-payments. “Canada is quite unique in the fact that it doesn’t have that compared to other countries with universal health care,” he said.
The Fraser Institute has previously come out with reports highlighting gaps and inefficiencies in the healthcare system, including one on overly long patient wait times and several others that focused on Canada’s high healthcare spending.
Related stories:
Methodology of Fraser Institute’s patient wait-time study called into question
Wait times for medical procedures hits two-decade high, says study
Canada’s high healthcare spending belies modest-to-low performance
The study titled Sustainability of Health Care Spending in Canada — authored by Bacchus Barua, Milagros Palacios and Joel Emes — reports that healthcare expenditures have grown faster than other government program spending, as well as the Canadian economy at large, according to the Toronto Sun.
The report states that healthcare spending has gone up by an average of 116% across Canada. It is also expected to outpace the rate of economic growth: by 2031, it could consume more than 45% of the program budgets for Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
Despite that, the number of doctors per patient in the country is among the lowest for nations with universal health coverage. Canada is similarly lacking when it comes to hospital beds per patient.
“What did all that money do?” Barua said.
Governments may have asked themselves the same question as they tried to slow down the increases in healthcare spending in recent years. However, Barua noted that the pressure to care for an aging and growing population will only build up moving forward.
“[T]he status quo isn’t working,” he said. “And the notion that you can just spend more money on it is over.”
For Barua, the solution to the current predicament is to give private sector entities a bigger role in healthcare delivery, similar to the systems implemented in Sweden and Germany. In such countries, it is common to open up private-sector healthcare options or help temper demand by charging co-payments. “Canada is quite unique in the fact that it doesn’t have that compared to other countries with universal health care,” he said.
The Fraser Institute has previously come out with reports highlighting gaps and inefficiencies in the healthcare system, including one on overly long patient wait times and several others that focused on Canada’s high healthcare spending.
Related stories:
Methodology of Fraser Institute’s patient wait-time study called into question
Wait times for medical procedures hits two-decade high, says study
Canada’s high healthcare spending belies modest-to-low performance
