Français | Contact Us | Help | Search | Canada Site | ||||||
What's New | Exec. Summary | Glossary | Endorsers | Physical Activity Unit | ||||||
|
Strategies -- The Impact of Active Living at Work InitiativesTrends Related to Health Spending and Prevention StrategiesNational Health Expenditure Trends On December 16, 1999, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported that spending on Canada's health-care system was expected to reach $86 billion for 1999, which represented a 5.1% increase from 1998. Projections show that sales of prescribed and non-prescribed drugs are consuming an increasingly larger share of total health expenditures, replacing spending on physician services as the second largest category. Hospital care remains the leading category of health expenditures. Canada spent an estimated $78 billion on health care in 1997, an increase of 3.1% from 1996. These trends suggest that if rapid change does not occur, health-care costs will continue to escalate, particularly since Canada's population is aging. Per capita spending for 1999 was estimated at $2,815. Total health-care expenditures as a ratio of the GDP have grown from 8.9% in 1997 to 9.1% in 1998 and then to 9.2% in 1999. Health-care spending by the private sector was an estimated $23.9 billion in 1997, representing about 31% of total health expenditures in Canada. National Health Expenditure Trends (1975 - 1999), Canadian Institute for Health Information National Wellness Survey Report 2000 The Second Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey shows that workplace wellness is becoming increasingly important to the Canadian Business community. Four hundred and twenty-two businesses representing 716,885 employees responded to the 1999 survey. Results:
1996 Study by the Conference Board of Canada
Statistics Canada 1997 Labour Force Survey
Understanding Canada's Health-Care Costs Canada's provincial and territorial Ministers of Health produced a report in August 2000 that laid out the challenges faced by Canada's health-care system. This report spells out the pressures on the system and the costs that will be faced by all sectors of the economy to maintain it. The Economic Burden of Illness in Canada, 1993 A 1993 report by Health Canada showed that the total cost of illness in Canada for 1993 was $156.9 billion. This is roughly equivalent to 22% of the Gross Domestic Product or $5,450 per capita. This was broken down as follows:
All costs, except $27.6 billion in direct costs, were classifiable by diagnostic category. Those with the highest costs were:
These four categories represented 50.2% of the total cost of illness classifiable by diagnostic category.
Canada's Aging PopulationPeople over 45 use more of the per capita share of health care resources than their younger counterparts. Canada's population is aging and health-care costs both for the country as a whole and for business in regard to benefit costs will increase with the population. Population Tables can be obtained from Statistics Canada at www.statcan.ca or you can contact infostats@statcan.ca. You will need to marry these tables with the actual figures from your organization to project the kind of increases your organization should anticipate. Health Care and Insurance CostsThese figures are not readily available. However, each business has these records in their Finance and Administration area. We suggest that you build your own database with the figures available in your organizations. Return on InvestmentEvidence in Canada
Evidence in the U.S.
Here are some examples in the U.S.
Data from the Worksite Health Promotion Directory Disease Patterns and Organizational Costs70% of an organization's benefit costs are incurred in six disease categories. Detailed below, these categories represent the most prevalent types of illness and injury experienced in the North American workplace. They are also preventable or at least modifiable through physical activity and other lifestyle/behaviour changes.
Total deaths and age-standardized death rates by selected causes
1981 and 1992.
*Rates per 100,000 population Statistics Canada: Catalogue 84-209, 1991 Canadian population Similar Statistics are available by gender and age in Statistics Canada Catalogue 11-612E, No 8. Health-care costs related to major disease groupsBenefit streams data -- National norms
Supporting researchClick here to access the supporting research for this section. Strategies -- The Impact of Active Living at Work Initiatives
|