Health care is an economic engine, not just a cost item, says economist

Canadians support our universal public health care system and yet governments have failed to properly invest in the system in ways that acknowledge its contributions to a healthy economy.

On Oct. 20, economist Jim Stanford joined Canadian Health Coalition’s Anne Lagacé Dowson for a conversation about the economic benefits of Canada’s public health care system. The webinar is now available for viewing here:

Stanford is an economist with the Centre for Future Work and author of the report, The Economic Benefits of Canada’s Public Health Care System, prepared for the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. At the Council of the Federation conference in Charlottetown in July, Stanford presented the findings of his report to Canada’s premiers.

Shared on the webinar were Stanford’s accounting of the important ways in which public health care supports employment, incomes, economic growth, and government revenues. Stanford makes a strong case for treating health care as an investment—not just a cost item on provincial budgets.

Key findings from the report, noted on the Centre for Future Work’s website, include:

• Health care is one of Canada’s largest and most dynamic industries.
• It employs 1.9 million waged or salaried employees, and hundreds of thousands more self-employed practitioners, specialists, and contractors.
• Health care production accounts for about 8% of Canada’s total value-added (GDP), and over 10% of total employment.
• Health care workers earn $120 billion per year in wages and salaries.
• The health care system purchases $51 billion worth of supplies and inputs from a complex and far-reaching supply chain (composed mostly of private businesses).
• Health care accounts for over $7 billion in annual research spending, the second highest of any Canadian industry.
• Because health care is not highly integrated in international trade, it is relatively protected from global disruptions and shocks (like the effects of U.S. trade policies).
• Universal access to quality health care unlocks many other economic benefits including: more flexible labour markets (workers are able to change jobs without fear of losing health coverage), enhanced longevity and well-being (supporting more labour force participation and higher productivity), and improved ‘social capital’ (safe and inclusive communities where interactions can occur more securely and efficiently).

Upcoming webinars at 12:00 PM ET –

November 3 – The U.S. billionaires threatening Canada’s public health care with Chris Holcroft, Nikolas Barry-Shaw and Natalie Mehra. Register here.

November 18 – Excluded from care: Health care barriers for migrant workers in Canada with Y.Y. Chen, Lindsay Larios and Susana Caxaj. Register here.

Webinars are recorded for later viewing on the Canadian Health Coalition’s youtube channel.