Health One of the most intriguing cost-related demographics in the CIHI data for 2025 is the vast differential in health-care spending per person in Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. Of the $9,629 per capita overall health-care cost estimate, Ontario – with its far larger population – scores closest to the national estimate accounting for $9,045, with rising estimates ranging among provinces to $11,617 for Nova Scotians. But these estimates pale compared to the $20,124 for residents of Yukon; $28,714 for Northwest Territories and $30,086 for citizens of Nunavut. That is the per capita cost absorbed by individual residents in these discrete areas. Because Canadians don’t pay for health care at the checkout counter as do most Americans, the myth that it’s all free is misleading – though still widely believed. As the 2025 Price of Public Care Insurance, authored by *Nadeem Ismail, Nathaniel Li and Milagros Palacios, authors of Fraser Institute’s annual survey explains: “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.” Quite a pertinent question, given the concerns expressed in Waiting Your Turn. But before going to the numbers, it’s best to understand that beyond the (partial) costs collected by employer health taxes and direct provincial contributions (in some, but not all provinces), there is the whole range of income taxes, pension plan premiums, property taxes, sales taxes on daily goods, tobacco, alcohol, motor vehicle taxes, tickets to Blue Jays’ games, import duties, all of which contribute a large share to health care at provincial and federal levels. Since 1997 (when Fraser’s annual cost surveys were begun), the cost of public health-care insurance for the average Canadian family has increased twice as fast as the cost of food, and 1.6 times as fast as the average income, and the cost of shelter. Looking at in more prosaic terms, the average family paid $9,889 for shelter, $6,069 for food and $2,074 for clothing in 1997 out of an average income of $46,378 and health-care costs of 3,353; they will, in 2025, have paid $25,818 for shelter, $13,097 for food and $2,446 in clothing in 2025. Certainly, clothing looks cheap but then, as we all know, we dressed a lot better in 1997 than we do today. When all of these 2025 taxes are consolidated: An average unattached (single) individual Canadian earning an average income of $60,032 and averaging $23,958 in taxes at a 39.9 per cent tax rate will pay $5,703 for health-care insurance. A family of two parents and no children with an average cash income of $158,477 and an average total tax bill of $72,843 at a tax rate of 46 per cent will pay $17,338 for health-care insurance., A family of two parents and one child earning $182,805, with a tax bill of $77,033 at a tax rate of 42.1 per cent will pay $18,336 for health-care insurance. A family of two parents and two children with an average household income of $188,691 and a total tax bill of $80,077 at a tax rate of 42.4 per cent will pay $19,060 for health-care insurance. A family of one parent and one child with an average cash income of $79,124 and a tax bill of $24,932 at a tax rate of 31.5 per cent will pay $5,934 for health-care insurance. And a family of one parent and two children with an average cash income of $87,296 and a tax bill of $21,903 at a tax rate of 25.1 per cent will pay $5,213 for health-care insurance. * Credits: Nadeem Esmail is a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute. Nathaniel Li is a senior economist and Milagros Palacios is director of the Addington Centre for Measurement at the Fraser Institute. 2025 Update Price of Canadian Public Health-Care Insurance – a Pandora’s Box. 38 | www.snowbirds.org
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