Canada is anticipated to spend a document $308 billion on well being care in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a brand new report from the Canadian Institute for Well being Data (CIHI) says.
The report, revealed on Thursday, says the nation’s whole well being spending is anticipated to have elevated by greater than 12 per cent between 2019 and 2020.
In response to CIHI, it is a charge of spending that the nation hasn’t seen in additional than 30 years.
“That is triple the expansion charge skilled from 2015 to 2019, which was regular at roughly 4% per 12 months,” the CIHI press launch reads.
The info says the nation’s deliberate well being expenditure is anticipated to characterize 12.7 per cent of Canada’s gross home product in 2021, after a excessive of 13.7 per cent in 2020.
Within the press launch, CIHI President and CEO David O’Toole stated COVID-19 resulted within the “single largest enhance in well being spending now we have ever seen on this nation.”
O’Toole stated an getting older inhabitants and the continued pandemic will “little question put extra pressure on our well being methods and take up a bigger proportion of presidency budgets.”
The CIHI report says presently, well being spending in Canada represents round 40 per cent of the nation’s whole provincial and territorial budgets.
In response to CIHI, the spending per individual in 2021 in Canada is forecast to be $8,019.
AN UPWARD TREND?
Brent Diverty, vp of knowledge methods and statistics at CIHI, stated whereas well being spending all the time will increase general in Canada, he expects prices associated to managing the outbreak can even drop because the COVID-19 pandemic winds down.
“Nevertheless, one of many questions will likely be whether or not prices associated to pandemic preparedness for the long run want to stay,” he advised CTVNews. “So I believe that will likely be one thing to look at.”
Diverty stated whereas Canada has by no means actually skilled declines in well being spending, the annual charge of spending has declined earlier than.
“However general the numbers all the time tick up,” he stated. “So is that this a brand new degree from which we’ll bounce off? I believe that’s what we’ll have to look at sooner or later.”
Diverty stated the report’s knowledge for 2020 and 2021 are the deliberate expenditures of governments and well being methods in Canada.
“As these wash by the system, then we’ll replace the report with the precise expenditures that occurred,” he defined.
WHERE IS THE MONEY BEING SPENT?
Greater than half of Canada’s well being spending is anticipated to proceed in direction of hospitals, medicine and doctor providers, the report discovered.
Hospitals are anticipated to account for 25.1 per cent of Canada’s whole well being expenditure, whereas medicine and physicians account for 13.9 per cent and 13.5 per cent of the spending, respectively.
In response to CIHI, a brand new spending class referred to as “COVID-19 response funding” accounts for seven per cent ($23 billion) of Canada’s whole well being spending. This class covers issues reminiscent of COVID-19 remedies, contact tracing and vaccinations.
HEALTH SPENDING ACROSS CANADA
In response to CIHI, the sum of money spent on well being varies throughout Canada’s provinces and territories.
Per individual well being spending is anticipated to be highest in Canada’s territories, with $14,111 being spent in Yukon, $23,023 in Nunavut and $20,365 within the Northwest Territories.
Right here’s how a lot every of the provinces is forecasted to spend per individual in 2021:
British Columbia: $7,946
Alberta: $8,230
Saskatchewan: $8,502
Manitoba: $8,313
Ontario: $7,773
Quebec: $7,931
Newfoundland and Labrador: $9,585
New Brunswick: $7,969
Nova Scotia: $8,831
Prince Edward Island: $8,136
WHO IS PAYING?
About 75 per cent of the nation’s whole well being expenditures are anticipated to be paid for by the general public sector, the CIHI report says.
In response to CIHI, 65.6 per cent of that can come from provincial and territorial governments, whereas the remaining 9.1 per cent will likely be paid for by different elements of the general public sector.
Twenty-five per cent of the nation’s well being spending is roofed by the non-public sector.
Out-of-pocket spending accounts for 12.1 per cent of the expenditure, whereas non-public medical insurance (10.6 per cent), and non-consumption (2.6 per cent) account for the rest.
This marks a major change from the 70 to 30 per cent cut up between the private and non-private sector, respectively, that Canada had skilled pretty steadily from the early 2000s till 2019.
In response to Diverty, the shift occurred because of the pandemic-related expenditures which have been funded by public {dollars}. Nevertheless, he stated this may seemingly shift again because the pandemic winds down.
“We’d anticipate that that can transfer again in direction of 70-30,” Diverty defined. “I’m unsure the speed of it, but it surely actually is dependent upon whether or not these COVID particular expenditures proceed and for a way lengthy they proceed to be wanted and the place they’re utilized.”
HOW DOES CANADA STACK UP INTERNATIONALLY?
Included within the CIHI report is a comparability of Canada’s well being spending in opposition to 38 different nations who’re members of the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD).
In response to the newest knowledge out there, Canada ranked among the many highest spenders in 2019, spending $6,666 per individual on well being care, with the expenditure accounting for 10.8 per cent of the nation’s GDP.
Diverty stated Canada’s place amongst OECD members in 2019 is “the place we are usually.”
“We spend greater than the common of our OECD colleague nations, and we are likely to cluster with a bunch of nations that features various European nations, with the U.S. a lot larger,” he defined.
In 2019, the common OECD expenditure was $5,074 per individual, and accounted for 8.8 per cent of the GDP.
Whereas Diverty stated it’s too quickly to know whether or not Canada’s place among the many OECD nations will change for 2020 or 2021, he stated the subsequent few years will likely be “very attention-grabbing.”
“As a result of then we will convey the COVID-19-related expenditures into the equation and see how we fared on these,” he stated.
