A new Fraser Institute report shows that taxes to fund healthcare have risen faster than income over the past quarter century
How much do Canadians pay in taxes for public healthcare provision?
A new analysis of data by the Fraser Institute shows that an average Canadian family with two adults and two children and an income of $169,296 will pay an estimated $16,950 in 2023, while a couple with no dependent children will pay $16,162. A single Canadian will pay $5,622 for their healthcare insurance and a single parent with one child will pay $6,294.
This only reflects the costs of public healthcare provisions, not private medical insurance or health insurance to protect wealth.
As most Canadians do not see a bill for medical services, many are unaware of the true cost of healthcare insurance paid through their employer, or how much these costs have increased over the past quarter of a century.
The research shows that since 1997, the first year for which data is available, the average cost of healthcare insurance has risen sharply and faster than increases in income.
A recent poll by Ipsos found that three fifths of Canadians support the private provision of publicly financed health care.
Significant increase
The average Canadian family’s healthcare costs have increased more than 4 times as fast as the cost of clothing, and around twice as fast as the cost of food and shelter, and the average income.
“Canadians pay a substantial amount of money for health care through a variety of taxes—even if we don’t pay directly for medical services,” said Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2023.
He added that understanding the cost of healthcare and how it has increased over time is “an important first step for taxpayers to assess the value and performance of the health-care system, and whether it’s financially sustainable.”
