The average Canadian family pays $11,320 in taxes to fund Canada’s health-care system, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute.
Since 2003, the cost of health care for all family types went up 53.3% before inflation, the report concludes.
“Health care is not free in Canada,” said Fraser Institute director of health policy studies Nadeem Esmail.
“The fact is, Canadian families pay thousands of dollars in taxes every year to cover the cost of public health care insurance.
“And that cost rose 1.5 times faster than average [the] income over the past decade.”
The report does not compare health-care costs in Canada with those in other countries, such as the U.S., where health care is largely funded through private health insurance.
According to one study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums in 2004 in the U.S. cost $9,950 for family coverage and $3,695 for a single person. In 2009, those costs grew to $13,375 for a family and $4,824 for a single person.
According to the most recent analysis, 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $15,745 in 2012, up 4% from 2011, with workers paying $4,316 toward the cost of their coverage.
According to a comparison of health-care spending by the Conference Board of Canada, Canada spent much more per capita on health than three other comparable countries – Australia, Denmark, and Finland – and nearly as much as the U.S.
“The U.S. is a big outlier,” the comparisons found. “Its health-care spending not only far exceeds that of other countries, it is also well above what one would expect for a country with its income level.”
