Health-care spending in Canada is expected to reach $160.1 billion this year, up from $150.3 billion in 2006, according to a .
The figures, released Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), show a 6.6 per cent annual increase (3.2 per cent, with inflation and population growth factored in).
On average, health expenditures are forecast to reach $4,867 per person this year, up from $4,606 in 2006.
As a share of Canada's gross domestic product (GDP), health-care spending has increased slowly over the past five years and is expected to reach 10.6 per cent in 2007, says the report. That is a slight increase from last year's estimate of 10.4 per cent.
According to Graham Scott of the CIHI, much of the increase is due to public investments in health services that have resulted from federal and provincial health accords over the past few years.
Scott told Â鶹´«Ã½net Tuesday that governments have put more money back into the health-care system after years of cutbacks in the 1990s.
"But I (also) think a large portion of what we are dealing with today is the wait time expenditures that are being made, and I think we are seeing a genuine progress on dealing with the wait times," Scott said.
He added that it appears Canada's health-care system is improving. But he noted that Canadians and politicians must now ask if improvements are taking place at a quick enough pace.
Report breakdown
Public-sector spending is forecast to reach $113.0 billion in 2007, representing 70.6 per cent of total health care spending. Private-sector spending (including privately insured and out-of-pocket expenses) is projected to reach $47.1 billion this year, a 29.4 per cent share of the total.
"That hasn't moved a lot in the last 10 years," CIHI president Glenda Yeates told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to have to dish out the most on per person health care at $3,695 and $3,637, respectively. Quebec is predicted to have the lowest cost at $2,853 per person.
Provincial and territorial governments account for more than 90 per cent of public-sector health care expenditures by all levels of government, says the CIHI.
In 2005, the latest year available for age-specific data, the CIHI says the most per capita health care spending by provincial and territorial governments was on infants and adults aged 65 and older.
- Infants under the age of one cost an average of $7,437.
- Adults aged 65 to 69 cost an average of $5,142
- Adults aged 85 to 89 cost an average of $20,731.
"On average, it's really the beginning and the end of life where we have the greatest health expenditures," said Yeates.
The three largest areas of total health care spending in 2007 are:
- Hospitals, expected to account for 28.4 per cent ($44.5 billion) .
- Drugs, expected to account for 16.8 per cent ($26.9 billion)
- Physicians, expected to account for 13.4 per cent ($21.5 billion).
The annual report, National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975-2007, is the most comprehensive source for tracking how money is spent on health care in Canada.
