Canada is spending more than ever on health care. Are we getting our money's worth?

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Canada is spending more on health care than ever. Whether Canadians are getting more care for their money is another question.

A new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), an independent, non-profit organization that collects and analyzes data on Canada's health-care system, projects health-care spending will reach a record $433 billion in 2026, or $10,398 per person, an increase of 4.8 per cent over last year.

For the first time since the pandemic, inflation-adjusted spending per person is expected to surpass its previous peak, reached in 2021.

But Canada already ranks among the higher-spending countries in the developed world, while patients continue to struggle with long wait times, overcrowded hospitals and difficulty finding family doctors.

That raises a central question: Is Canada spending enough on health care, or does the problem lie in how that money is being spent?

"I believe that these records of spending are just buying us more of the same right now," said Jason Sutherland, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and director of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research.

He argues that without substantial changes to how health care is organized and delivered, additional spending is unlikely to produce meaningful improvements for patients.

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The $10,398 figure represents the combined cost of publicly and privately funded health care, including hospitals, doctors, prescription drugs and services paid for through private insurance or directly by patients. It is not the amount each Canadian pays in taxes.

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