This year Ontario is adding $1.3 billion to fund health care for 2013-14, but most of that increase will have come from dedicated sources amounting to almost a billion dollars.
Net contribution from general taxation will be about $360 million.
This is where the rest comes from:
• The net increase in the Canada Health Transfer (6%) will be $671 million.
• The net increase in revenue expected from the Employer Health Tax will be $134 million.
• The net increase in revenue from the much maligned Ontario Health Premium will be another $135 million.
Had the Wynne government followed Dwight Duncan’s plan from last year, the net contribution from Ontario’s general revenues would have only been a paltry $60 million to reach the $1 billion that the government had originally forecast as an increase for 2013-14.
Of the $48.8 billion to be spent on health care this year, the Feds can claim to be directly paying $12 billion through the Canada Health Transfer, or slightly less than 25 per cent.
The Employer Health Tax will contribute $5.3 billion (10.9 %) and the Ontario Health Premium will raise a total of $3.2 billion (6.5 %).
While $1.3 billion is nominally more, it is less than what is needed to cover basic inflation (1.2 %) and the impact of population growth (1 %) and aging (1 %) on the health system. Inflation in health care normally runs higher than the general inflation rate. For example, Ontario estimates drug costs will rise by 5.4 per cent this year.
OPSEU Diablogue 