March 29, 2022
Fixing, Funding, and Reforming Health Services
- A serious conversation about fundamental changes required to tackle rising cost pressures in Canadian healthcare is long overdue. A new C.D. Howe Institute study demonstrates the importance of controlling Canada’s healthcare costs and improving its efficiency, unless we are prepared to fund the rapidly increasing cost burden.
- Without significant changes to the approach taken in healthcare, estimates of spending scenarios in the next 15 years peg the possible cost ballooning to $180.7 billion in excess of revenue growth. Even after the COVID-19 related budget impact, signs continue to point to an increase in cost – pharmacare and dental care are prime examples – which requires examining how it will be funded, and how it can be controlled.
- “This approach has yet to be implemented in any serious way in this country,” says Sinclair. A fundamental shift in approach now may be the antidote needed to ease the healthcare cost squeeze in the future.
