Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

64
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Health systems in transition Canada
Fig. 3.2
Trends in total health expenditure per capita ($US PPP) in Canada and selected
countries, 1990–2010
Trends in capita (US$ PPP)
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
Source: OECD (2011).
Note: 2010 data was available only for Canada, not for other countries.
United States
Canada
France
Sweden
United Kingdom
Australia
In the early to mid-1990s, Canadian Governments managed to force health
spending below the rate of economic growth to a greater extent than most
OECD countries. This was a direct result of the aggressive fiscal policy of
provincial governments in eliminating their budgetary deficits and reducing
debt loads that had accumulated over the previous two decades. Since health is
the single largest spending category in provincial budgets, these governments
capped or even reduced spending in the early to mid-1990s. This was followed
by a major reduction in cash transfers from the federal government to the
provinces, a large portion of which had historically been earmarked for health
care (Tuohy, 2002).
Since the mid-1990s, largely in response to public perceptions about the
deteriorating quality of medicare, the provincial and territorial governments
have increased their respective spending on health care. Figs 3.3 and 3.4
compare Canada with other OECD countries in terms of the degree to which
public-sector health spending has increased since 1990. While all six countries
have shown considerable growth in public-sector health spending over the past
20 years whether measured as a share of the economy or in per capita terms,
the latter measure demonstrates the extent to which the Canadian experience
with respect to public expenditure has been almost identical to France, Sweden
and the United Kingdom.
2004
2006
2008
2010