It is often said that in Canada free medicine, even walks many memes and jokes on this topic. However, we know, nothing happens. For medicine, someone has to pay: you need to build and maintain hospitals, doctors want to eat, as well as manufacturers of drugs and medical devices. I think you guess who is eventually paying for it.
How much does medicine cost in Canada and is it worth it
Indeed, in Canadian realities, it would hardly happen to push the character to illegal activities by proceedible medical accounts – here you are not wild West. However, this does not mean that medicine in Canada is free.
As we know, nothing happens, no medicine, nor television. For medicine, someone has to pay: you need to build and maintain hospitals, doctors want to eat, as well as manufacturers of drugs and medical devices. I think you guess who is eventually paying for it.
Consider the cost of medicine from three sides: examples of the cost of medical services that are not covered by state insurance of Canada, how many internship residents spend on medicine from their pocket and finally, how much the state spends on medicine. At the same time, we comply with the costs of Russian.
How much medical services are in Canada
We have already discussed that not all medical services are covered by insurance, but even those that are covered, should be medical justified.
Take, for example, prices for dentistry – for them for them, for them, have to pay themselves. Compare them between clinics and, moreover, between countries – the case is ungrateful, too many factors: the quality of the service that it includes, the quality of materials and services, etc. Therefore, I'll just give a few examples.
Each province has its own association of dentists, which publishes recommendations on the cost of services to which specialists in the province are focused. Of course, this can not contribute to the price conspiracy or coordination. 🧐🎩
Recommendations at cost in Ontario are not publicly available, but there are by Albert for 2021
- An adult survey – 105.92 Canadian dollars (CAD) ≈ 6,461 rubles
- Seals – 189,67-260.63 CAD ≈ 11 570-15 898 rubles
- Tooth removal Simple – 140.21 CAD ≈ 8 553 rubles
- Different tooth removal – 252.86 CAD ≈ 15,424 rubles
Even among basic and insurance services, not all for free: sometimes you need to pay extra. For example, the resident of Ontario must pay
45 CAD for challenge ambulance, non-resident – 240 CAD. And this is the lowest indicator among the provinces:
If he has an invalid insured card or a challenge emergency recognizes the medical unauthorized.
Not to mention, when traveling outside the "home region", the coverage of insurance decreases and can be encountered with unpleasant surprises, such as a girl who received an account for 12 thousand CAD for an emergency carrier by a helicopter when sick, govila in another province.
How much does the middle Canadian spend on medicine #
Now let's look at the costs of the average Canadian (and Canadian!) for medicine. Based on data from the World Health Organization
(WHO) per capita national health expenditure in US dollars (USD) for 2018.
According to this indicator, Canada ranks 13th in the world with an indicator of 4,995 USD. From this amount
Canadians pay 14.73% out of pocket (the so-called out-of-pocket expenses), and 9.87% are voluntary health insurance. Thus, the average Canadian spends (14.73 + 9.87)% * 4,995 USD = 1,228.77 USD ≈ 94 thousand rubles on healthcare per year.
For comparison: Russia is in 73rd place in terms of spending on medicine with almost 609 USD per person per year, of which 38.31% are household expenses, voluntary insurance is 2%. The total is (38.31 + 2)% * 609 USD = 245.48 USD ≈ 19 thousand rubles per year.
Based on the average salary in 2018, Canadians spend “out of pocket” 1,228.77 USD / (48 thousand CAD ≈ 38.4 thousand USD) = 3.2% of their income on health, while Russians spend 19 thousand rubles a year / (43.4 thousand rubles * 12) = 3.6%. The figures are surprisingly comparable, it is only necessary to take into account that in absolute terms the difference is about 5 times.
State budget spending on healthcare#
However, the financing of medicine is not limited to out-of-pocket expenses: the state allocates most of it. All according to the same WHO data, in Canada, out of 4,995 USD of medical expenses, 72% come from the budget, the rest is the expenses of the population, which we have already considered, plus some other little things. In Russia, state financing is responsible for 37.84% – the budget, 21.61% – the social insurance system, together 59.45%.
In order to have these 72% for medicine in the budget, Canada levies a payroll tax, the amount of which varies between provinces. For example, in Ontario it varies
from 0.98% to 1.95%. Also in Ontario there is also a health premium
up to $900 per year, depending on the person's annual income level. By virtue of a direct indication of the law, non-payment of the health premium should not affect insurance in any way.
Of course, in addition to personal taxes on the population, the budget receives income from duties, corporate taxes, international trade, etc. However, this does not change the essence: if money were not spent on medicine, then personal taxes could be reduced by this amount (not that this was a good idea).
It turns out that the average Canadian pays 72% * 4,995 USD = 3,596.4 USD ≈ 277 thousand rubles a year in taxes on medicine; average Russian – 59.45% * 609 USD = 362 USD ≈ 27.9 thousand rubles.
Findings#
All figures in the table:
| Category | Canada | Russia |
|---|---|---|
| Out-of-pocket spending | $1,228.77 | $245.48 |
| % out-of-pocket expenses of the average salary | 3,2% | 3,6% |
| budget spending | $3,596.4 | 362 USD |
| Total medical expenses per capita | $4,995 | 609 USD |
| The share of medical expenses in the average salary | 13% | 9% |
Conclusions about the cost of medicine in Canada:
Miracles and free medicine do not happen. The population of the country still pays for it. Only a) the ways of (re)distributing money for medicine and b) the level of medicine that is provided to the inhabitants of the country by default differ.
On a per capita basis, Canada spends 8.2 times more on healthcare than in Russia.In this case, the share of these costs from average salary is similar. Mondering that on Average, Averages Are Stupid
We will not make distant conclusions.
Now the most important question is whether higher costs are broadcast in more efficient medicine? If you need a short answer to this question, then usually use the average life expectancy at birth (source
Life expectancy is rather an indicator of medium public health, and the quality of medical care is only one of the factors that affect it. But they correlate well (interactive source
A little better compare the quality of medical care with the help of five-year survival with different types of cancer (data for 2009
| View of cancer | Canada | Russia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 85,80% | 70,60% | 15,2% |
| Cervix | 66,80% | 54,90% | 11,9% |
| Colonian | 62,80% | 40,60% | 22,2% |
| Leukemia | 55,20% | 42,00% | 13,2% |
| Liver | 17,70% | 9,40% | 8,3% |
| Lungs | 17,30% | 15,70% | 1,6% |
| Ovarian | 37,50% | 40,40% | -2,9% |
| Prostaty | 91,70% | 69,60% | 22,1% |
| Rectum | 62,80% | 30,40% | 32,4% |
| Stomach | 24,80% | 19,90% | 4,9% |
Even this indicator is not ideal: it depends not only on the quality of treatment, but also from the method of keeping statistics, approaches to diagnosis and screening, the features of lifestyle, etc.
Answering the question whether you live longer with Canadian medicine than with the Russian – most likely that yes. However, for this you will have to move to Canada, and then it will be difficult to separate the positive effect of medicine from the overall level of life, ecology and other favorable factors.