Health spendings by Canadians is estimated - $148 billion by the end of 2006, accounting to $4,548 per person – says a report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
While, Health spending continues to outpace inflation and population growth, the pace of growth rate is slowing, says the CIHI in its annual report on health care spending trends released Tuesday.Graham Scott, CIHI chairman said: 'For the 10th consecutive year, health care spending continues to outpace inflation and population growth. Scott suggested the period of growth could be attributed in part to new public money flowing into heath care from agreements between the federal and provincial governments, but noted spending 'now appears to be growing at a slightly slower rate.'
Canada's per-person health spending is still only half of what Americans spend – CIHI reported and the per capita health care spending is expected to reach $4,548 — a 4.9 per cent increase over 2005. Health care spending was highest for infants and seniors, consistent with a trend in which 'the beginning and final years of life are the times when people use health care the most,' CIHI president and CEO Glenda Yeates said.
'The total public sector (spending) has basically gone up $6 billion from 2005 to 2006, so it’s certainly consistent with what you would expect.' The reports also have found out that the amount spent by the government varies widely across the country. In 2004, the most recent year for which a breakdown is available, per capita spending ranged from a low of $2,987 in Newfoundland and Labrador to a high of $3,072 in Alberta.
Source-Medindia
SRI
