Population Aging, Health Care Spending and Sustainability: Do We Really Have a Crisis?

This paper argues that issue of health care sustainability does not arise because of the inability of the economy or the overall fiscal system to finance rising health care costs.  It arises from a combination of vertical fiscal imbalances in the Canadian fiscal system, federal retrenchment from its traditional commitment to the financing of national programs – health care, postsecondary education and social services – and from inadequate cooperation between the federal and provincial-territorial governments.

ISBN – 1-55382-027-4