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Heath-care cost escalation looks to be easing: Report
GLOBE & MAIL
November 1, 2006
by Gloria Galloway
The escalation in health-care costs seems to be subsiding, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
New figures for the 2005-2006 fiscal year tell a good-news tale of the country's public health system, one that experts say could
punch some holes in the arguments of those lobbying for further integration of private care.
And it could give some ammunition to the federal government as it tries to convince the provinces to institute a wait-times
guarantee — a promise that they will pay to send people out of their jurisdiction for care when it is not available locally in a timely fashion.
The new CIHI report shows that health-care expenditures by provinces, territories and the federal government increased by 5.7 per
cent in the last fiscal year. In dollar terms, it jumped from $90.8-billion to $96-billion.
That is about twice the rate of inflation but is down significantly from the increase of 6.5 per cent that occurred the
year before and follows a progressive decline that has taken place since 2000-2001 when the year-over-year increase was 9.4 per cent.
It's also an increase that occurred during a period that the federal government's portion of the health-care bill increased
by six per cent, and at a time when the number of procedures grew along with the population.
In fact, when adjusted for inflation, the per capita increase in health-care spending has dropped from 4 per cent in 2003-2004
to 2.3 per cent last year. And the percentage of the GDP that is devoted to health care across Canada, which was 6.6 per cent last year,
has been relatively steady for two decades.
All of which suggests a sustainable system, say health care experts.
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