Madam Speaker, the National Forum on Health which was convened a couple of years ago did a vast amount of research. Experts in health care compared our expenditures in Canada. They looked at a variety of issues. They concluded that the per capita expenditure on health care in Canada was greater than most other countries with the only exception being the United States.
The parties opposite talk about the health care system in the United States. We all know the problems with accessibility which my colleague the Minister of Health and others have quoted. Not only are there problems with accessibility but there are the administrative costs in the United Sates. Because it is privately funded, many patients in hospitals and clinics end up filling out forms ad nauseam because the health care insurers are not anxious to pay the claims. Fully 30% of the cost of the health care system in the United States is administrative costs.
If the member opposite is going to quote new figures, he should also look at the expenditures we made in health care last year and this year. It was $11.5 billion last year and another $2.5 billion this year.