Health care spending growth in Canada slowing, says CIHI

Total health care spending in Canada is expected to reach C$207 billion ($207.62 billion) in 2012, averaging C$5,948 per person. The figures in National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975 to 2012, released yesterday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), show that the pace of growth is slowing.

Modest economic growth and budgetary deficits are having a moderating effect. For the third straight year, growth in health care spending will be less than that in the overall economy. The proportion of Canada's gross domestic product (GDP) spent on health care will reach (11.6% this year - down from 11.7% in 2011 and the all-time high of 11.9% in 2010.

"Provincial and territorial governments today are focused on controlling health care costs,” explains CIHI’s president and chief executive John Wright, adding: “Unlike in the past, they’re not cutting programs as much as looking at improving productivity, reducing overhead, controlling compensation and seeking value-for-money initiatives.”