VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s already one of the biggest expenses for any provincial government in Canada.
Now, a new report from the right-wing Fraser Institute warns spending on the health care system is set to spike significantly over the next 15 years.
“BC is one of the five provinces where we expect health care expenditures to go up to about 50 per cent over the next 15 years or so,” says Bacchus Barua, one of the report’s authors.
The report expects BC will end up dedicating just over 52 per cent of the provincial budget to health care by 2030. It currently spends 42.7 per cent.
Right now, only Nova Scotia (44.6%) and Ontario (42.9%) spend more when it comes to health care.
Only Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Newfoundland & Labrador are expected to be successful in constraining the growth in health care spending.
“Changes are clearly needed in Canada’s health care system in order to ensure the sustainability of not only health care, but also other priority areas of spending,” says Barua.
He adds the extra spending won’t go unnoticed.
“We need to remember this will have consequences — either fewer resources for other programs, increased tax burden, or larger debt.”
The report says it’s too much to ask provinces to shoulder such a big financial load along with other major expenses like education and social services.