Part 3...
Canada needs (and can afford) complete national health care

Hospital costs cont'd.
The factors that contribute to the rise of hospital costs include: 1) increase in the compensation of hospital health care providers, accounting for 60% of the total hospital budget; 2) increase in the number of hospital workers (between 1999 and 2008, their number grew by 21%, mainly to meet the need for new services; and 3) introduciton of new and expensive diagnostic and surgical tools (e.g., robotic systems hyperbaric surgery); computers, electronic health records and telehealth).

The options for containing hospital costs include replacing the current system of hospital budgeting with regional population-based budgeting, as in Alberta & saskatchewan, or paying for services provided on the basis of unit cost.