Total spending on health care in Canada in 2010 is estimated at $191.6 billion, increasing $9.5 billion (5.2 percent) since 2009, according to a Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report. However, after the effects of inflation and population growth have been removed, health care spending per Canadian is expected to increase by only 1.4 percent in 2010 (or $216 per Canadian), the lowest annual growth rate in 13 years.
Spending is predicted to reach 11.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, which is a decline from the estimated 11.9 percent in 2009 but is higher than the 10.7 percent of GDP in 2008. Government spending on health care in 2010 is anticipated to be $135.1 billion and private sector spending (including both private insurance and out-of-pocket expenses) will reach $56.6 billion. For over ten years, public and private sector health spending in Canada has been growing at about the same rate, with the public sector accounting for about 70 percent of the total health care bill and about 30 percent coming from the private sector.
Spending per person varies by province, with the highest levels for 2010 expected in Alberta and Manitoba and lowest expenditures in British Columbia and Quebec. Hospitals ($55.3 billion), drugs ($31.3 billion) and physician services ($26.3 billion) account for the largest share of health care spending, but physician spending has increased more than hospital and drug spending for the fourth year in a row. The authors also report that health care spending on seniors has not changed significantly over the past ten years (from 43.6 percent in 1998 to 43.8 percent in 2008).
See “National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975 to 2010,” CIHI, October 2010, available at www.cihi.ca.