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A by-the-numbers look at health-care funding and spending in Canada

Oct 17, 2016 | 4:00 PM

OTTAWA — Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott is digging in for a fight with her provincial and territorial counterparts over how much Ottawa should shell out for health-care funding over the coming years.

A primary sticking point is the federal government’s stated intention to proceed with cutting annual increases in health transfers to the provinces in half to three per cent. Here are some numbers that provide a look at public-sector health spending and funding in Canada:

$36 billion: Total federal health transfers to the provinces and territories in 2016-17, according to Finance Department numbers. The transfers are treated as government revenues, like income taxes, and are added to each jurisdiction’s general pool of cash.

1.5 per cent: Projected public-sector expenditure growth between 2014 and 2015 by the provinces, according to the most-recent annual spending report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

2.7 per cent: Annual average growth in public-sector health spending by provinces between 2011 and 2015, according to the group’s data. (The figures for 2014 and 2015 are forecasts.) CIHI says the decline is largely a reflection of Canada’s modest economic growth after the 2009 recession, which led to fiscal belt-tightening by governments.

7.2 per cent: Annual average growth in public-sector health spending by provinces between 1998 and 2010, according to CIHI data.

$144 billion: Total projected public-sector health spending by provinces in 2015, the CIHI says.

Here’s a rundown of projected public-sector health spending growth between 2014 and 2015 for each province and territory:

Newfoundland and Labrador: 3.1 per cent

Prince Edward Island: 1.3 per cent

Nova Scotia: 2.5 per cent

New Brunswick: 1.7 per cent

Quebec: 0.5 per cent

Ontario: 0.7 per cent

Manitoba: 3.5 per cent

Saskatchewan: 2.6 per cent

Alberta: 1.9 per cent

British Columbia: 3.4 per cent

Yukon: 12 per cent

Northwest Territories: 11.4 per cent

Nunavut: 0.4 per cent

The Canadian Press