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