Canadian families now paying $21,115 yearly for health care through taxes, study finds

Canadian families are bearing a rising share of health-care costs through taxation, according to analysis from the Fraser Institute released Wednesday. In 2026, a family of four with an average household income of $202,885 will pay an estimated $21,115 for health care—roughly 25 per cent of its total tax bill and slightly more than 10 per cent of household income. For couples without dependent children, the figure drops to $19,225; for single Canadians, $6,464.

These costs have consumed a larger share of family income over time. Between 1997 and 2026, the cost of funding health care for the average Canadian family grew 1.7 times faster than average family income, 2.3 times faster than the cost of food and 1.5 times faster than the cost of housing. While rising housing and food costs have outpaced health-care increases in recent years, health-care spending still grew faster than family income over the past decade.

Canadian health-care dollars do purchase important services, the analysis notes, but it questions whether families receive value for money. Long waits for surgery and emergency treatment, limited access to family doctors and scarcity of advanced medical technologies characterize the Canadian experience. Despite these shortcomings, Canada spends more on health care than almost any other country in the developed world with universal care.

The Fraser Institute argues that absent genuine reform, Canadians will likely continue paying high costs for a system that underperforms when compared to other countries with universal health care. Families across Canada struggling to make ends meet face compounding pressures from rising health-care costs, which remain bundled with other government services and largely invisible to the public eye.