COVID-19 health-care funding levels might not be maintained post pandemic: CIHI
Global News
Provinces may run into challenges funding health-care systems post-COVID-19 after the pandemic has forced recorded spending, a new report indicates.
A spike in health-care spending during the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to some serious financial challenges for provinces as they work to rebuild their health systems in the aftermath, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
The spending surge is expected to reach a record $308 billion in 2021, say newly released projections from CIHI.
That is roughly $8,019 per Canadian.
“COVID-19 resulted in the single biggest increase in health spending we have ever seen in this country,” said CIHI president David O’Toole in a news release.
Health spending is projected to have increased 12.8 per cent between 2019 and 2020. That’s more than triple the average annual growth rate seen from 2015 to 2019, which was approximately four per cent per year.
Spending is estimated to have increased another 2.2 per cent between 2020 and 2021.
The agency said its estimates will be updated as final spending amounts are tabulated, and may be less accurate than normal given the nature of emergency funds spent during the pandemic.
Still, the numbers add up to a troubling future as Canada works to recover from the pandemic and get health systems back on their feet.