Supporting Factors Influencing Health

Publicly financed health care provides access to a package of valuable core services to all Canadians—services that provide necessary care when needed and help improve the health and well-being of Canadians. In addition to being a valuable public service, publicly financed health care plays another role that is often overlooked: it redistributes income among different socio-economic groups. In effect, how much different population groups pay for health care through various mechanisms, such as income taxation, and how much they receive back in terms of services vary. As a consequence, health care financing may affect the income of population groups differently. Since health care represents a large and growing part of public-sector spending (35% of total provincial and territorial expenditure in 2011), it is important to consider the redistributive effects of publicly financed health care in Canada.