Canada’s single-payer health care costs doubling every decade
Coming soon to your area: The Myth of cost-effective government-controlled health care…
Soaring costs a bad symptom
Times Colonist March 1, 2009
A new report by the Health Council of Canada confirms a long-suspected diagnosis. Our health-care system is in deep trouble, and the condition might very well be fatal.
The council’s figures show that over the past 10 years, health spending doubled. In itself, that’s not the problem.
But essentially the same thing happened in the previous decade, and the one before that too. Canada’s national health service is just over 40 years old. But roughly every 10 years, the costs double.
In the early stages, this might have been explained by start-up expenses. But that’s not what is going on now.
Only a quarter of the latest doubling was due to demographic factors, such as population increase or aging. Another quarter was due to inflation. That leaves fully half the cost surge unaccounted for. It’s not hard to see where this growth pattern leads. Health care consumed 35 per cent of B.C.’s provincial budget 10 years ago. Today it devours 45 per cent. If the trend continues, that share will reach 55 per cent in 2020, and 65 per cent in 2030.
On the one hand, that’s a believable scenario. The next two decades will see baby boomers move into old age. Health costs double when people reach retirement.
On the other hand, it’s also ruinous. Long before we get to the 65-per-cent mark, other essential services like education and child protection will be crippled.
The explanation seems clear enough. Simply stated, one dollar in every five we allocate is wasted.
[click link for remainder of Victora British Columbia Times editorial]