But because bills are not handled directly, the report says most Canadians remain in the dark about what they’re really paying for health care due to the fact that health care in Canada comes out of general government revenue rather than a specific health tax, making it largely invisible to the average earner, except through employer health taxes in some provinces.
“Canadians pay a substantial amount of money for health care through a variety of taxes—even if we don’t pay directly for medical services,” says Nadeem Esmail, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and the report’s co-author.
Over time, the financial burden has ballooned, the report shows.
Since 1997, the cost of public health care insurance for the average Canadian family has shot up at a rate 2.2 times faster than the price of food, 1.6 times faster than housing costs, and 1.6 times faster than average incomes.
“Understanding how much Canadians actually pay for health care, and how much that amount has increased over time, is an important first step for taxpayers to assess the value and performance of the health care system, and whether it’s financially sustainable,” adds Esmail.