The Fraser Institute is blaming government health and drug insurance programs for the skyrocketing cost of government healthcare spending and not prescription drugs.
According to its study—The Misguided War Against Medicines 2010 rising costs should be blamed on the costs of physicians, hospitals and drugs.
If you look past drug costs, all remaining areas of healthcare accounted for 90.8% to 91.2% of total government health spending between 2006 and 2009. The study reports that prescription drugs accounted for only 8.8% of total government health spending in 2009, down from 9.3% in 2006. Patented prescription drugs accounted for only 5.5% of total government health spending in 2009, down from 6.3% in 2006.
After subtracting drug spend, all the remaining areas of healthcare accounted for 90.8% to 91.2% of total government health spending between 2006 and 2009.
“Government spending on all areas of healthcare other than prescription drugs consumes more than 90% of total government spending on healthcare. Clearly, it’s wrong to single out drug expenditures as the cause of rising healthcare costs,” said Mark Rovere, Fraser Institute associate director of health policy research and co-author of the report. “The solution is clear: a compulsory private insurance system, combined with low-income subsidies to foster universal coverage, would offer a significantly wider range of benefits and more efficient coverage, leaving all Canadians much better off.”
