Managing the Cost of Healthcare for an Aging Population: Nova Scotia’s Healthcare Glacier

Nova Scotians carry a $99 billion fiscal burden – the higher tax bill for increased healthcare costs over the next half-century – and should prepare now for the coming demographic squeeze, says a report released today from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Managing the Cost of Healthcare for an Aging Population: Nova Scotia’s Healthcare Glacier,” authors Colin Busby and William B.P. Robson recommend that Nova Scotia prefund selected healthcare services and benchmark against other provinces to get better health bang for their tax bucks, particularly with regard to its high spending on drugs, and nursing and residential care.