Canadians often misunderstand the true cost of our public health care system. This occurs partly because Canadians do not incur direct expenses for their use of health care, and partly because Canadians cannot readily determine the value of their contribution to public health care insurance.
In 2026, preliminary estimates suggest the average payment for public health care insurance ranges from $6,464 to $21,115 for six common Canadian family types, depending on the type of family.
Between 1997 and 2026, the cost of public health care insurance for the average Canadian family increased 2.3 times as fast as the cost of food, 1.7 times as fast as the average income, and 1.5 times as fast as the cost of shelter. It also increased much more rapidly than the average cost of clothing, which has fallen in recent years.
The 10 percent of Canadian families with the lowest incomes will pay an average of about $637 for public health care insurance in 2026. The 10 percent of Canadian families who earn an average income of $88,572 will pay an average of $8,644 for public health care insurance, and the families among the top 10 percent of income earners in Canada will pay $66,350.
<p><strong><em>The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2026</em></strong> finds that the typical Canadian family will pay over $21,000 for public health-care insurance this year. The cost of healthcare has increased substantially since 1997, the first year for which data is available. In fact, it has increased 2.3 times as fast as the cost of food, 1.5 times as fast as the cost of housing and 1.7 times as fast as the average income.</p>
Copy Citation Adam Bloomfield, Ngoc Dao, Kyung Min Lee, and Sita Slavov, “How Do State “Auto-IRA” Policies Affect Household Balance Sheets?,” NBER Working Paper 35373 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w35373. Copy to Clipboard Download Citation
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