At some point, governments across Canada are going to break the taxpayer piggy-bank when it comes to health care funding. A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows Canada will spend $160 billion on health care (both public and private) this year, $10 billion or 6.6 percent more than was spent last year. Alberta and Manitoba rank number one and two when it comes to per capita spending in Canada -- worse for Albertans, where a so-called "health care premium" (read: tax) is paid by individuals and families.

For Manitobans, despite there being no health tax (yet) the upward spending has continued unabated. According to CIHI, Manitoba's per person health expenditures totaled $5,230; $3,957 taxpayer -funded and $1,293 privately-funded.

CIHI points out the 6.6 percent increase, health care spending outstrips overall economic growth at nearly three times the rate of inflation. As it stands now, Manitoba's overall provincial budget is $8.1 billion and nearly $4 billion is allocated to health care - leaving whatever is left over for other areas such as justice crime reduction, education, infrastructure and the environment. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates, very conservatively, that if health care spending continues as it is today, within 40 years it will consume 100 percent of the provincial budget.

Politicians, of course, scoff at this notion. But there is no other area under government control that has experienced spending increases three times the rate of inflation. Worse, access to the system is not improving. There are over 2.1 million Canadians without a family physician. In Manitoba, the average wait for an MRI is 9 weeks and if you're a heart patient, the average wait for a MIBI stress test is 13 weeks. These numbers don't take into consideration the time it takes for a patient to go from their general practitioner, to a specialist, then treatment.

Manitoba's health minister stated in media reports that our province is one of the highest spenders when it comes to health care because of all the areas they are attempting to address. What the minister fails to recognize is that is precisely the problem; not the solution. Rather than invite choice and competition into the health care, the government has either bought out or chased out any private sector providers.

In its 2005 decision in Chaoulli v Quebec ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada stated "it does not appear that private participation leads to the eventual demise of public health care." The court went on to state "many western democracies that do not impose a monopoly on the delivery of health care have successfully delivered to their citizens' medical services that are superior to and more affordable than the services that are presently available in Canada. This demonstrates that a monopoly is not necessary or even related to the provision of quality public health care."

In other, words, saving medicare means liberating patients and providers outside the box of politician-controlled and rationed health care.

Even if the numbers from CIHI don't convince governments that health care's insatiable spending appetite is unsustainable, they may want to start paying attention to the number of Canadians that travel outside the country for treatment. Clearly Canadians want a choice, and reject the government's notion that everyone should suffer equally under their monopoly.