Many Canadian families are unaware that a large portion of their paycheck goes towards paying for public health care, due to a complex bureaucracy dealing with hidden costs and transfer payments.
new study According to the Fraser Institute, the average Canadian household of all kinds will pay 240 percent more for public health insurance this year than in 1997, outpacing the 141.1 percent increase in cash income earned by the average household over the same period. Health care costs are rising 1.7 times faster than average income.
By examining how much each household pays to all levels of government for health care, the study authors identified that for six common household types, Canadians will pay an estimated $4,908 to $17,713 in health care costs, depending on the household type.
be investigation According to the US health policy research institute KFF, the average American family spent $23,968 on health insurance annually. For those receiving employment benefits, $6,575 of the cost was paid by the worker themselves. The average American family paid about $9,000 Canadian for health insurance in 2024.
According to the report, a family of four in Canada with an average household income of $175,266 will pay an estimated $17,713 for public health insurance this year. On the low end, the average single parent with two children will pay $4,908 in health care costs in 2024.
This year, 23.3 per cent of tax revenues will go towards health care in Canada.
The study found that $225.1 billion will be spent on health care in 2023, amounting to $5,614 per Canadian that year. However, because of the progressive tax system, this figure doesn’t take into account differences between Canadians with different incomes and living situations.
The lowest 10% of Canadian households will pay an average of about $639 for public health insurance in 2024. The middle 10% of Canadian households earning $81,825 will pay an average of $7,758 for public health insurance, while the top 10% of Canadian households will pay $47,071.
Health care costs are growing 2.2 times faster than food costs and 1.6 times faster than housing costs.
Housing costs increased by 150.5%, food costs increased by 111.1% and clothing costs increased by 18.5%, although clothing costs decreased compared to the previous year. In contrast, health insurance for the average Canadian household increased by 239.6%.
“Canadians should be asking very important questions about what kind of health care system they’re paying for,” study co-author Nadim Esmail told True North in an interview. “When you look at the cost-effectiveness of Canada, Canadians are being treated unfairly.”
He noted that Canadians will face an average medical wait time of 27.7 weeks in 2023, the longest on record. In some cases, patients were told they had a three-year waiting list to see a specialist, True North reported.
Canada ranked low among 30 high-income countries that will have universal access to health care in 2023, despite spending the most of any of those countries. It ranked 28th in access to doctors, 23rd in hospital beds, 25th in MRI machines and has the longest waiting lists among countries with available data.
“We pay huge amounts for health care, we have one of the highest health care costs in the world on an age-adjusted basis, and in return we have one of the worst access to health care in the developed world,” Esmail said.
He said health care costs rose significantly in 2020, as expected due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but then declined in 2022 for “many family types” on an inflation-adjusted basis. He noted that in 2024, health care costs in Canada will be higher than they were in pre-pandemic years.
“The general trend of a health care system with significantly poorer access compared to high costs continues and is reflected in current waiting times, which have risen well beyond pre-pandemic periods and continue to rise,” he said.
He thinks Canada should follow the example of countries like Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, which rank highly for rapid access to universal health care, short wait times, low levels of spending and “some of the best outcomes in the health care process among developed countries.”
“These countries have embraced private competition in the provision of universally accessible services, allowing private alternatives to universal systems when the public system is unwilling or unable to meet patients’ needs and patients are required to share in the cost of care through user fees or co-payments,” he said. “In some of the countries with the worst access to health care in the developed world, there are better ways to deliver care.”
