OTTAWA — Despite castigation from provincial premiers over lagging federal contributions to health spending, an analysis of 20 years of health funding data shows that federal transfers have mostly outpaced increases to provincial health budgets.

In 2023, federal health transfers amounted to $47.1 billion, a 212 per cent increase over 2005, when the transfers were $15.1 billion. Total spending by all 10 provinces grew in that time to $221.9 billion up from $86.2 billion, an increase of 158 per cent.