Since the Fraser Institute initiated these annual reports on healthcare spending in 1997, the costs of public health-care insurance (adjusted for inflation) have soared by 82.8% for the average family consisting of two adults and no children; 91.1% for the average family of two parents and one child; 85.1% for a family of two parents and two children; 125.5% for an unattached person; 137.1% for the average family of one parent and one child; and 104.8% for a family of a single parent and two children. Over the same time (1997-2024), the average family’s cash income increased by 141.7%, the cost of housing by 150.5%, food by 111.1%, and the cost of health insurance for the average Canadian family increased by 239.6%. But it’s important to note that even those taxes and premiums don’t pay for all of the health care that Canadians require. There remains the 29 per cent of health-care costs and fees which Canadians pay out of pocket for private insurance, over-the-counter medications, routine dental and eye care, cosmetic or elective medical procedures and the intangible costs and anxieties of lengthening wait lines – forcing many Canadian families to spend even more of their hardearned savings on medical services in the U.S., Mexico, or further abroad. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, when all costs of health care, including private insurance, home and community care, administration and manpower costs are added to those of the public health-care systems, the total bill in 2023 spiked to $344 billion, or $8,046 per each Canadian. That tallies up to 12.3% of GDP, among the highest of all countries in the OECD. But, unlike most OECD big spenders, 3% of Canadians were waiting in line for treatment – some for longer than a year. See Waiting Your Turn: Canada 2023, CSA News, spring 2024. The Price of Public Health Care Insurance 2024 was authored by Nathaniel Li, Senior Economist at Fraser; Milagros Palacios, Director of the Addington Centre for Measurement at Fraser; and Nadeem Esmail, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute. Milan has been writing about Canadian health care since the inception of Medicare. He welcomes your comments at mkorcok@aol.com. Health CSANews | WINTER 2024 | 33
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