How much does healthcare cost in Canada?

With my feed reader and Twitter blowin’ up about healthcare and the debate raging on in the United States,  I thought it would be a useful exercise to actually look at how much healthcare costs in Canada.

Stats Canada in 2015 did a budget survey, and Canadians pay on average 6% per household or an additional $3630.36 a year for health & personal care (includes grooming I suppose), on an average household income of $60,516 on top of the healthcare they already receive from the government that is subsidized.

IT COSTS AT LEAST $1000 PER PERSON ANNUALLY…

The minimum someone pays for healthcare here is ~$1000 in taxes for the FSS (Fonds des services de santé) but if you take out more money as a salary, you pay more (2.5% of the salary) towards the FSS.

Dental is not considered healthcare (though yearly cleanings should be) so all of that comes out of pocket if you don’t have insurance through an employer.

Examples of costs of dental things I have paid in recent years:

• $5000 for Invisalign for minor tooth adjustment
• $600 for a back brace on my tooth
• $1375 for a root canal
• ~$80 – $150 for a cleaning depending on the dentist you go to and how long they take
• $155 for a deep root cleaning on my tooth which I eventually removed with a root canal

Eye checkups and glasses are also not under healthcare so it is all out of pocket.

Examples of costs of eye-related things and costs I have paid over the years:

• $200 for frames
• $300 for the lenses
• $200 for ~2 years worth of contact lenses (6 boxes of 6 lenses each)

For any other medical extras like special medication such as prescribed migraine medication it could be $7 a pill for very expensive medication, or $15 for special eczema cream for Baby Bun. If I had medical insurance through a employer it could be 100% covered but since I don’t, it is still subsidized by the government but I pay a little out of pocket.

Examples of costs of other medication:

• $63.88 for some infection medication (pills to take for 5 days to eliminate my bronchial infection from a nasty cold)
• $33.83 for two inhalers (asthma and bronchitis inhalers)

VACCINATIONS

Vaccinations for Baby Bun have all been free unless you want to pay for a private doctor visit which is about $20 each time you go (you don’t have to though, the free government clinics here do them too).

A private doctor visit means you get in when you need to go, and they tend to be slightly better and at least ON TIME when you have an appointment with them.

We are cheap, so I don’t bother with this, and don’t mind waiting the extra 15-30 minutes at the government clinics.

I also do the walk-in clinic by calling the night before to ask for a next day appointment, instead of having a family doctor.

GIVING BIRTH (C-SECTION)

For giving birth, I was in Toronto, Ontario.

I took the basic: semi-private (shared a room with another mother upon recovery), no telephone, no television, no circumcision (we have our own beliefs on this matter and definitely were not paying for it).

I came out of that hospital after having a C-Section, being fed, Baby Bun tested and taken care of, free formula and diapers while we were there, with a bill of $0.

You can read more about the costs to give birth being insured with OHIP.

I understand the costs of healthcare on everyone and we do pay more taxes to subsidize all of this.