;

And in that regard, B.C. ranks the highest in the country. While we sit second-tolast in per-capita spending, (only Quebec ranks lower) we beat most other provinces in all kinds of areas: best cancer survival rates, lowest heart attack rate, longest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality rate, etc.

Have we finally wrestled that voracious gobbler of tax dollars the public health-care system to a standoff, if not to the ground? By that I mean the days of the system automatically devouring increasingly large amounts of money every year to feed itself may be drawing to a close, at least in British Columbia.

Of course, I dont mean the health-care system will stop being the biggest area of government spending by far.

But the rate of growth in spending is slowing down significantly. The annual hike is down to 2.6 per cent this year, compared to just several years ago when it was above five per cent.

Now, there are those who think this is bad news. After all, shouldnt we be plowing even more money into the system rather than less? If we dont, wont health-care standards suffer? The answers are: a) not necessarily and b) no.

The ideological defenders of the public health-care system everything is to blindly think the only measuring stick worth anything is per capita spending. In other words, B.C. should spend more dollars per person than anywhere else, and things will take care of themselves.

But those with experience in the system, who study it and come up with good ideas for change, point to another and far better measurement: health outcomes.

And in that regard, B.C. ranks the highest in the country. While we sit second-tolast in per-capita spending, (only Quebec ranks lower) we beat most other provinces in all kinds of areas: best cancer survival rates, lowest heart attack rate, longest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality rate, etc.

When it comes to wait times for certain surgeries, theyve been mostly going down and not up. The median wait time for a hip joint replacement has declined to 13 weeks from 19 weeks over the last 10 years, while a knee joint replacement has gone from 25 weeks to 18 weeks over the same time period.

See the article here:

Health-care changes seem to be paying off