Canada is expected to spend a record $308 billion on health care in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) says.
, published on Thursday, says the country鈥檚 total health spending is expected to have increased by more than 12 per cent between 2019 and 2020.
According to CIHI, this is a rate of spending that the country hasn鈥檛 seen in more than 30 years.
鈥淭his is triple the growth rate experienced from 2015 to 2019, which was steady at approximately 4% per year,鈥� the CIHI press release reads.
The data says the country鈥檚 planned health expenditure is expected to represent 12.7 per cent of Canada鈥檚 gross domestic product in 2021, after a high of 13.7 per cent in 2020.
In the press release, CIHI President and CEO David O鈥橳oole said COVID-19 resulted in the 鈥渟ingle biggest increase in health spending we have ever seen in this country.鈥�
O鈥橳oole said an aging population and the continued pandemic will 鈥渘o doubt put more strain on our health systems and take up a larger proportion of government budgets.鈥�
The CIHI report says currently, health spending in Canada represents around 40 per cent of the country鈥檚 total provincial and territorial budgets.
According to CIHI, the spending per person in 2021 in Canada is forecast to be $8,019.
AN UPWARD TREND?
Brent Diverty, vice president of data strategies and statistics at CIHI, said while health spending always increases overall in Canada, he expects costs related to managing the outbreak will also drop as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down.
鈥淗owever, one of the questions will be whether costs related to pandemic preparedness for the future need to remain,鈥� he told CTVNews. 鈥淪o I think that will be something to watch.鈥�
Diverty said while Canada has never really experienced declines in health spending, the annual rate of spending has declined before.
鈥淏ut overall the numbers always tick up,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o is this a new level from which we鈥檒l jump off? I think that鈥檚 what we鈥檒l have to watch in the future.鈥�
Diverty said the report鈥檚 data for 2020 and 2021 are the planned expenditures of governments and health systems in Canada.
鈥淎s those wash through the system, then we鈥檒l update the report with the actual expenditures that took place,鈥� he explained.
WHERE IS THE MONEY BEING SPENT?
More than half of Canada鈥檚 health spending is expected to continue towards hospitals, drugs and physician services, the report found.
Hospitals are expected to account for 25.1 per cent of Canada鈥檚 total health expenditure, while drugs and physicians account for 13.9 per cent and 13.5 per cent of the spending, respectively.
According to CIHI, a new spending category called 鈥淐OVID-19 response funding鈥� accounts for seven per cent ($23 billion) of Canada鈥檚 total health spending. This category covers things such as COVID-19 treatments, contact tracing and vaccinations.
HEALTH SPENDING ACROSS CANADA
According to CIHI, the amount of money spent on health varies across Canada鈥檚 provinces and territories.
Per person health spending is expected to be highest in Canada鈥檚 territories, with $14,111 being spent in Yukon, $23,023 in Nunavut and $20,365 in the Northwest Territories.
Here鈥檚 how much each of the provinces is forecasted to spend per person 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 country鈥檚 total health expenditures are expected to be paid for by the public sector, the CIHI report says.
According to CIHI, 65.6 per cent of that will come from provincial and territorial governments, while the remaining 9.1 per cent will be paid for by other parts of the public sector.
Twenty-five per cent of the country鈥檚 health spending is covered by the private sector.
Out-of-pocket spending accounts for 12.1 per cent of the expenditure, while private health insurance (10.6 per cent), and non-consumption (2.6 per cent) account for the remainder.
This marks a significant change from the 70 to 30 per cent split between the public and private sector, respectively, that Canada had experienced fairly steadily from the early 2000s until 2019.
According to Diverty, the shift occurred due to the pandemic-related expenditures which have been funded by public dollars. However, he said this will likely shift back as the pandemic winds down.
鈥淲e would expect that that will move back towards 70-30,鈥� Diverty explained. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure the rate of it, but it really depends on whether these COVID specific expenditures continue and for how long they continue to be needed and where they鈥檙e applied.鈥�
HOW DOES CANADA STACK UP INTERNATIONALLY?
Included in the CIHI report is a comparison of Canada鈥檚 health spending against 38 other countries who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
According to the latest data available, Canada ranked among the highest spenders in 2019, spending $6,666 per person on health care, with the expenditure accounting for 10.8 per cent of the country鈥檚 GDP.
Diverty said Canada鈥檚 position among OECD members in 2019 is 鈥渨here we tend to be.鈥�
鈥淲e spend more than the average of our OECD colleague countries, and we tend to cluster with a group of countries that includes a number of European countries, with the U.S. much higher,鈥� he explained.
In 2019, the average OECD expenditure was $5,074 per person, and accounted for 8.8 per cent of the GDP.
While Diverty said it鈥檚 too soon to know whether Canada鈥檚 position among the OECD countries will change for 2020 or 2021, he said the next few years will be 鈥渧ery interesting.鈥�
鈥淏ecause then we can bring the COVID-19-related expenditures into the equation and see how we fared on those,鈥� he said.
