Nunavut’s per capita health costs double the Canadian average

Health care costs in Nunavut are expected to rise to $447 million this year. (WIKIPEDIA COMMONS PHOTO)

In a territory already struggling with the high cost of living, it’s perhaps no surprise that Nunavut has the highest per capita health costs in the country — according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

That report, National Health Expenditure Trends 1975 to 2013, pegs Nunavut’s annual health care costs at $13,152 per person, more than double the Canadian average of $5,988 per person.

The report projects that Canadian health care spending will hit $211 billion this year, an all-time high.

But while those costs are only likely to rise, the rate of increase will be less than Canadians have seen in recent years — at least outside of Nunavut.

“Spending continues to increase across the board, but at a slower pace than in previous years,” said Christopher Kuchiak, Canadian Institute for Health Information’s manager of health expenditures, in an Oct. 29 news release.

“This trend is due in large part to Canada’s modest economic growth and government efforts to balance budgets.”

Of that $211 billion in health spending, roughly 30 per cent is spent on hospitals; another 16 per cent on drugs and 15 per cent on doctors.

About thirty per cent of Canada’s health care costs are financed by private money.

In Nunavut, health care spending is expected to rise from $436 million in 2012 to $447 million this year, roughly following the 2.6 per cent annual increase seen Canada-wide since 2011.

But the CIHI report notes that for the third year running, the rate of increase in spending has not kept up with inflation and population growth across the country.

On average, Canada’s provinces and territories spend about 40 per cent of their budgets on health care. That percentage tends to be lower in the territories, such as in Nunavut, where only 28 per cent of the territorial budget is targeted at health care.

Much like Canada’s other provinces and territories, the majority of Nunavut’s health care spending goes towards its youngest and oldest residents: babies under the age of one and seniors over 60 years of age.

But the report shows Nunavut’s health care cost increases have not kept pace with the rest of the country since the territory was created in 1999.

That year, Nunavut spent $13,577 per infant, compared to the $5,209 spent on average in Canada.

In the same year, Nunavut spent $35,409 on each resident between the ages of 85 and 90, compared to the $16,291 Canadian average spent per capita on that same age group.

Jump ahead to 2011, and Nunavut was spending triple the amount on babies — $28,090 per infant, compared to the Canadian average of $9,631.

In the same year, Nunavut also paid a whopping $223,724 per senior between the ages of 85 and 90 years of age, compared to the Canadian average of $24,003.