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More Health Care Does Not Mean Better Healthby Robert BrownBalance Between Health Care Spending and Social Supports Crucial
More Health Care Does Not Mean Better Healthby Robert BrownBalance Between Health Care Spending and Social Supports Crucial
ca
http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/evidencenetwork/archives/7695
health care spending and social support spending is crucial. A society that spends so much on health care that it cannot or will not spend adequately on other health-enhancing activities may actually be reducing the health of its population. There is a threshold for useful spending on traditional health care delivery. Beyond that threshold, overall population health may actually suffer not only because the care itself has marginal or dubious benefit, but also because less money is available to support health enhancing activities in the general social and economic policy spheres, such as in early childhood development or income security. One poses a very real question if one asks if it is beneficial to population health to decrease ones social security income base by, for example, raising the age of eligibility for OAS from age 65 to 67, if the reason is to find ever more money to fund traditional health care delivery. Surprisingly, the end result could be a decrease in the overall health of our population. Robert Brown is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a Fellow with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. He was Professor of Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo for 39 years and a past president of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. See the poster based on this commentary