Zoomers not cause of zooming health costs

It isn’t the rising number of Zoomers in Canada who are driving up the costs of health care, according to a study by the non-profit Health Council of Canada; all Canadians are using the system more, resulting in a billion increase in national health care spending over the last 10  years.

According to the council’s Dr. Danielle Martin, chair of the council's "Value for Money" committee who authored the report, "The frail and the elderly don't use health care as much as we think. In fact, what's going on is Canadians across all age groups are using health care more."

Surgeries, treatments and prescriptions account for 48 per cent of the growth in spending; population growth for 14 per cent increase: people living longer, about 11 per cent and inflation for 27 per cent, for overall spending of 0 billion in 2007, up from billion in 1998. The council reports that Canadians spent an average of 0 more of their own money or insurance money on health care in 2007 than they did a decade earlier. In addition, Canada spends more on health care than many other countries, but continues to rank low in access, adoption of information technology and timeliness, according to the report.

The council has launched a website, www.CanadaValuesHealth.ca, offering a message board, podcasts, blogs, online polls and research papers in order to engage Canadians in a discussion that will produce findings to be sent to legislators and the public in a few months.