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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – A report released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information estimates total health care spending this year will reach $192 billion. The amount translates into a per capita health spending of $5,614, the lowest level in 13 years.

Spending on health care increased 1.4 percent a year if the amounts were adjusted for inflation and population growth. As a percentage of Canada’s gross domestic product, health care spending has been increasing the past 10 years. This year, health care is expected to account for 11.7 percent of GDP.

Chris Kuchciak, CIHI manager of health expenditures, laid the slowdown in the growth of health care spending to the recession, which in turn caused many provinces to suffer from deficits and eventually cut programs.

While hospital budgets are going down, demand for doctors because of an aging population and for prescription drugs are apparently on the rise. Doctor payments are expected to top $26 billion and drug purchases are anticipated to reach $31 billion this year.

By 2031, the number of Canadians more than 65 years old is expected to double from current levels.

Another problem is lack of hospitals, since most Canadian hospitals are currently 100 percent full. Emergency departments have patients waiting for a bed one or two days, some patients have to sleep in hallways and surgeries and diagnostic procedures are delayed or canceled.

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