“I think this issue of health promotion has to go far beyond just printing brochures and telling people they ought to live a healthier life. I think we have to figure out how we can be much more aggressive in pushing that kind of health promotion onto British Columbians.” – Kevin Falcon, Health Minister
It is anticipated that health care spending will hit $14.8 billion this year, and by 2013, be up to $16.1 billion – consuming 42% of the provincial budget. Health expenditures are expected to increase, leading one to the conclusion that the status quo is simply unsustainable. We have to think differently about the way we fund and utilize health care services in BC.
There’s a number of factors creating a perfect storm on healthcare: an aging population, lower taxes, rising rates of disease and obesity, and the proliferation of unhealthy foods and lifestyles.
As Falcon mentions in the quote above, various programs have attempted for years to encourage people, primarily through informative packages, to pursue healthier lives. It’s hard to measure the success of the programs; that said, we know it’s not enough to curb the overall trends in healthcare.
The other practice has been increased funding and access to primary care, providing more preventative measures to the public. My perception of these initiatives is they are targeted towards high incident markets – such as single mothers or low income households – and, though not necessarily visible to the general public, surely make a significant difference.
At this point in time though, we need new ideas. BC needs creative solutions to utilize tax dollars more effectively and come up with out-of-the-box methods to discourage poor health practices, while encouraging healthy lifestyles.
One possible solution lies in tax shifting. The method has been employed with the carbon tax. The idea is to tax the bad stuff, and then use the money raised to subsidize the good stuff. There’s also the long term goal of taxing the bad stuff at a high enough rate to actually discourage its use.
In the health realm, tax shifting is a key tool we barely even use. We currently have both minor cigarette and alcohol taxes, with the money raised going back into the system. The rates aren’t high enough to discourage their use, but they do raise important revenues.
This framework could be applied to all types of unhealthy foods and beverages; the very things that contribute largely to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Imagine a tax on junk food and pop. With a ten year timeline, and escalating rates of taxation over the years, we could raise revenues for healthcare, while systemically, and gradually, discouraging the consumption of junk food.
One possibility with the example above would be to use the tax revenues generated to help subsidize healthy foods. There’s a core economic problem when local fruits and vegetables are more expensive than a bag of chips from the Midwest.
Ultimately, we need to do healthcare differently. We cannot continue to simply throw more money at the problem. We need to completely change the way we eat, exercise, and take care of ourselves. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but here’s a first step we can make to both raise more revenues and discourage unhealthy behaviour. Unhealthy food taxes are an idea whose time has come.
Tags: alcohol, budget, carbon, cigarette, costs, disease, health care, kevin falcon, obesity, revenues, soda, spending, tax shifting
I agree we should be taxing unhealthy foods, but people are going to freak out. There are too many foods that have debatable health detriments – sugary foods, meat, red wine, etc. Personally, I'd love to see a discouraging tax on beef – partly for health reasons, partly as a methane tax. But would anyone agree with me?
I agree we should be taxing unhealthy foods, but people are going to freak out. There are too many foods that have debatable health detriments – sugary foods, meat, red wine, etc. Personally, I'd love to see a discouraging tax on beef – partly for health reasons, partly as a methane tax. But would anyone agree with me?