After years of steady increases in the proportion of private sector health care spending in Canada, the pendulum finally appears to be swinging the other way. The Canadian Institute for Health Information says public sector spending is expected to increase from 70.2% of total expenditures in 1997 to 72.6% in 2001, with the proportion of private spending expected to decrease from 29.8% to 27.4%.
Health care spending in Canada grew by an average annual rate of more than 5% between 1998 and 2001, with the institute estimating that total expenditures surpassed $100 billion last year. Growth between 1998 and 2001 is projected to surpass any other 4-year period during the past 27 years.
The proportion of all health spending that is attributable to drugs continues to grow faster than any other category. Drug expenditures have increased by an average of 10% per year for the past 2 decades. Physician expenditures, as a proportion of total spending, have declined gradually from 15.4% in 1991 to 13.6% in 1999 and to an estimated 13.5% in 2000 and 2001.
Following a few years of negative growth between 1993 and 1996, per capita expenditures (adjusted for inflation) increased by 4.2% in 1998 and 5.1% in 1999. Increases of approximately 4% are expected when final data for 2000 and 2001 are compiled.
The proportion of the gross domestic product devoted to health care has hovered around 9% for the last 5 years. It was 9.2% in 1999 and is projected to be 9.1% in 2000 and 9.4% in 2001.
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Lynda Buske
lynda.buske@cma.ca
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