Friday, October 08, 2004
Canada's health care spending unsustainable
["Canada's universal health care system is sick," NCPA Daily Policy Digest, 8 October 2004.]
A quick look at demographic trends in the U.S. reveals that government health care assitance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare cannot continue to be funded at their current levels going forward. And yet, some propose that these programs be either expanded or folded into an overarching universal health care program along the lines of Canada's. Does Canada's health care system really represent an improvement over our own? The Canadian Fraser Institute suggests we should look elsewhere for solutions:
No country spends more than Canada to maintain a universal-access health care system. Yet most Canadians readily acknowledge that their health care system is failing. The solution, according to all of the parties in a recent federal election, is more spending.
Yet the current size and pace of health care spending by the provinces is remarkable, says researcher Nadeem Esmail:
- Health care expenditures already consume an average of 36 percent of provincial program spending, 4 percentage points higher than 5 years ago.
- On average, provincial program spending on health care has been increasing at a rate of more than 1.4 times that of total program spending.
This suggests that current growth rates in health care spending among the Canadian provinces are unsustainable and they will likely crowd out all other forms of spending in less than two decades if structural changes are not adopted, says Esmail.
Assuming that growth in total program spending will be about 3.5 percent (reflecting inflation and population growth) and holding real per capital provincial program spending constant, Esmail estimates that:
- By 2021, Newfoundland will be the first province to spend all of its funds on health care, leaving nothing for other programs such as police, education and the judiciary.
- All the 10 provinces will be spending their entire provincial budgets on nothing but health care by 2040.
Interested in finding out more about Canadian health care and answers to health care problems in the U.S.? Join us for a luncheon featuring Sally Pipes of The Pacific Research Institute October 14th in Kansas City. For more information or to register, visit the Flint Hills homepage: www.flinthills.org.
["Canada's universal health care system is sick," NCPA Daily Policy Digest, 8 October 2004.]
A quick look at demographic trends in the U.S. reveals that government health care assitance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare cannot continue to be funded at their current levels going forward. And yet, some propose that these programs be either expanded or folded into an overarching universal health care program along the lines of Canada's. Does Canada's health care system really represent an improvement over our own? The Canadian Fraser Institute suggests we should look elsewhere for solutions:
No country spends more than Canada to maintain a universal-access health care system. Yet most Canadians readily acknowledge that their health care system is failing. The solution, according to all of the parties in a recent federal election, is more spending.
Yet the current size and pace of health care spending by the provinces is remarkable, says researcher Nadeem Esmail:
- Health care expenditures already consume an average of 36 percent of provincial program spending, 4 percentage points higher than 5 years ago.
- On average, provincial program spending on health care has been increasing at a rate of more than 1.4 times that of total program spending.
This suggests that current growth rates in health care spending among the Canadian provinces are unsustainable and they will likely crowd out all other forms of spending in less than two decades if structural changes are not adopted, says Esmail.
Assuming that growth in total program spending will be about 3.5 percent (reflecting inflation and population growth) and holding real per capital provincial program spending constant, Esmail estimates that:
- By 2021, Newfoundland will be the first province to spend all of its funds on health care, leaving nothing for other programs such as police, education and the judiciary.
- All the 10 provinces will be spending their entire provincial budgets on nothing but health care by 2040.
Interested in finding out more about Canadian health care and answers to health care problems in the U.S.? Join us for a luncheon featuring Sally Pipes of The Pacific Research Institute October 14th in Kansas City. For more information or to register, visit the Flint Hills homepage: www.flinthills.org.
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