Further Refinements of Canadian/U.S. Health Cost Containment Measures

Abstract

Critics of the Canadian health care system have argued that the lower health care share of gross national product (GNP) in Canada relative to the United States is more likely to be associated with a relatively more rapid growth in GNP in Canada than with the ability of the Canadian single-payer system to contain costs. In this article the authors use both the level and the average annual growth rate of health care's share of GNP to provide an assessment of cost containment for the United States and Canada. They conclude that the suggestion that the success of the Canadian system has been an illusion created by its more rapid growth in GNP is not supported once the appropriate adjustments are made to the data.