Alberta’s health-care spending is unsustainable

Without decisive reform, health-care costs will continue squeezing out other public service priorities

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Alberta’s health-care spending is growing at an unsustainable rate, and without decisive reform starting in 2026, the province’s so-called “health care deficit” will surge to a projected $3.8 billion within a decade.

Alberta’s annual “health care deficit” is the gap between current spending trends—about 4.7 per cent growth per year—and a more sustainable path of roughly 3.5 per cent. Between 2023/24 and 2025/26, that deficit grew from $1.1 billion to $2.7 billion and is projected to reach $3 billion by 2028/29 and $3.8 billion by 2035/36.

Over the past three years, Alberta health-care spending has risen by an average 7.1 per cent annually. That trajectory is not sustainable. Health care already consumes more than 40 per cent of total program spending and when costs rise faster than revenues, they squeeze out funding for education, infrastructure and other core provincial responsibilities.

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