Health Care Expenditure and Delivery in Canada

the projected total health care expenditure in 2016 is expected to reach $228 billion, 11% of the GDP, approximately $6,299 CDN per person Sources of Health Care Funding • 70% of total health expenditure in 2016 came from public-sector funding with 65% coming from the provincial and territorial governments and another 5% from other parts of the public sector: federal direct government, municipal, and social security funds. 30% is from private sources including out of pocket (15%), private insurance (12%) and other (3%) • public sector covers services offered on either a fee for service, capitation, or alternate payment plan in physicians’ offices and in hospitals • public sector does not cover services provided by privately practicing health professionals (e.g. dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, massage therapists, osteopaths, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, private duty nurses, and naturopaths), prescription drugs, OTC drugs, personal health supplies, and use of residential care facilities
Figure 1. Total health expenditure by use of funds, Canada, 2015 (percentage share and billions of dollars) Source: https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/nhex_trends_narrative_report_2015_en.pdf
Delivery of Health Care • hospital services in Canada are publicly funded but delivered through private, not-for-profit institutions owned and operated by communities, religious organizations, and regional health authorities • other countries, such as the United States (a mix of public and private funding, as well as private for-profit and private not-for-profit delivery) and the United Kingdom (primarily public funding and delivery) have different systems of delivery