VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Our universal health care system may be funded by taxes, but do you know how much of your annual return goes toward medical costs?
A typical Canadian family of four will pay $11,735 for public health care insurance in 2015, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute, a right-leaning public policy group.
“Contrary to what many believe, health care in Canada isn’t free. While we don’t pay directly for medical goods and services, we pay a substantial amount through our taxes,” said Bacchus Barua, study co-author and a senior economist for the Fraser Institute.
“The problem is that nobody really knows what that amount is.”
The study finds the average Canadian family with two parents and two children earning $119,082 will pay $11,735 for public health care insurance in 2015. A single individual earning $42,244 can expect to pay $4,222.
But Barua admits the figure does vary dramatically when you look at it by income level.
“Families who are in the bottom 10 per cent in terms of income end up paying $400 to $500 for health care in 2015. On the other end of the spectrum, the families in the top 10 per cent actually ended up paying about $37,000 for health care in 2014,” he tells NEWS 1130.
The study also tracked the increasing cost of health care in Canada in comparison to income.
“We found that our incomes have grown slower than health care. In fact, our payments for health care have grown 1.6 times as fast as our incomes and that tells us a little bit about the sustainability of increases in health care expenditures,” says Barua.
“While it has tapered off a little bit over the last to or three years, we have clearly long been in an unsustainable path and it’s an important reminder to be vigilant about it in the future.”
The Fraser Institute, which has for years advocated for more private spending on medical care, says the report’s findings “should be a fundamental component of any debate about health care in Canada.”