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The cost of health care in Canada may surprise you: study

Last Updated Aug 1, 2017 at 11:03 am MDT

$12,057. That’s the estimated cost of health care in Canada, for an average family of four, according to the Fraser Institute.

“One of the most remarkable things about Canada’s health care system is that nobody actually seems to know how much they’re paying for health care,” study co-author Bacchus Barua said.

‘The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2017’ was released Tuesday morning.

“Our estimate is that, in 2017, the average family of four is actually going to be spending about $12,000 for health care. The average unattached individual will be spending about four and a half thousand dollars for health care,” he explained (A single Canadian will pay an estimated $4,596, this year, according to researchers).

Barua, a senior economist with the Centre for Health Policy Studies at the Fraser Institute, noted there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the actual price of a doctor’s visit or surgery in Canada.

“Some people tend to think that the health care system is free; some people think that it is just a couple of tax dollars here and there; and in provinces that charge them, some people think that it’s the total sum of the premiums that they pay in those provinces (Alberta does not charge a premium), but it’s actually usually much larger than that,” he said. “We actually pay a substantial amount of money through a provinces general tax system.”

Health care taxes have also risen over the last 20 years. The think tank estimates the cost of services in 2017 for families is about 68 per cent higher than it was in 1997, when estimates were first calculated. For a single individual, the costs have nearly doubled: the estimate from 1997 (in 2017 dollars) is $2,276.

Another notable lesson from the study is the true cost of health care among varied income families. Families with the lowest income (an average $14,641) will pay $471 for public health insurance, while those with the highest household income (an average $292,063) will pay $39,123, according to the report’s findings.

“It’s important for Canadians to understand how much they pay for public health care insurance so they’re in a better position to decide whether they get good value for their money,” Barua concluded.