Health-Care Costs for Typical Canadian Family Will Reach Almost $18,000 This Year: Study

Ambulances are seen at a hospital in Toronto on April 6, 2021. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

An average family of four will pay nearly $18,000 for health care services this year, according to a new study.

The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2024 by the Fraser Institute said health-care expenses will cost families an estimated $17,713 in 2024.

“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,” said Nadeem Esmail, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study.

Taxes collected by the federal government pay for the public health-care system in Canada so residents are often not aware of health care costs, an Aug. 24 Fraser Insitute news release said.

“Canadians cannot easily work out precisely what they pay to government each year for health care because there are many different sources of government revenues that may contribute to funding health care, including income taxes, Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) premiums, property taxes, profit taxes, sales taxes, taxes on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and import duties, among others.”

The study breaks down those costs to help Canadians understand the public health care system better.

A two-parent and two-child family with an average household income of $176,266 will pay about $17,713, the release said.

Couples without dependent children will pay $16,528, the study added. Single individuals will pay $5,629 for health-care insurance and single parents with one child will pay $5,345.

The cost of health care has increased substantially since data was first released in 1997, according to the release.

“The cost of healthcare for the average Canadian family has increased substantially, and has risen more quickly than its income,” the Fraser Institute said. It estimated the cost of public health care insurance for the average family rose 2.2 times as quickly as the cost of food, 1.6 times faster than the cost of housing, and 1.7 times as fast as the average income.

“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,” Esmail said.

Canadian families with the lowest incomes will pay an average of $639, according to the authors.

Families with an income of $81,825 will pay an estimated $7,758 for public health-care insurance.

Those in the top 10 percent of income earners in the country will pay $47,071, the study said.