I have discussed the two main divisive issues regarding the current culture of death in Canada, namely abortion and euthanasia (also known as MAID or Medical Assistance in Dying), in previous blog posts. What has not been done, either by me or by other experts that I can find, is a comparative financial analysis of this culture. In other words, what does it cost or save us, the taxpayers of this country. I will be using some rounded numbers and broad assumptions to keep things simple.
First, let's examine abortion. As of 2021, the annual abortion rate in Canada hovered around 87,000.[i]
Here is the part of the abortion debate that almost everyone tends to forget or gloss over. A living person pays taxes. A dead person does not. Therefore, were all those aborted persons to live and work, it is logical to assume they would pay taxes. In fact, they would pay a lot over their lifetimes. In a single year, for example, based on a 2021 report, the average family in Canada paid approximately $13,000 in income taxes.[ii] That translates into about $6500 per person annually in income tax if we make the logical assumption that there are usually two workers per family. For the sake of simplicity, if you now multiply these two numbers together (87,000 x $6500), you arrive at an annual loss to the federal government in taxes of approximately $565 million.
Let's next examine euthanasia. We have to come at this from a different direction, one that provides proper context. A 2017 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggested euthanasia could save the country between $34.7 million and $138.8 million annually.[iv] Furthermore, a recent well-researched article by journalist Terry O'Neill revealed that it costs $283.85 per person to administer MAID in British Columbia, and that there are in the order of 2700 MAID deaths in BC every year (and this number is increasing).[v] That means the province could potentially save up to $766,395 per year by not allowing MAID. Extrapolating this saving to the entire country using an approximate annual conservative euthanasia death count of 22,000 [vi], we obtain an annual saving of over $6 million by not allowing MAID (22,000 x $283.85). However, when this is compared to the potential annual saving by allowing MAID, there is clearly still a big saving for the federal government by advocating for MAID and especially for advocating for increasing MAID as much as possible. Obviously, then, in the case of euthanasia, a "culture of death" philosophy will indeed save the government money in health care costs.
But this is where context comes in. Using $138 million as our working figure for the annual saving incurred from MAID, let's look at different policies that relate to the culture of death with respect to both their logic and their cost. The first, of course, is the overall annual cost of health care in Canada. As of 2022, the annual cost was approximately $331,000,000,000.[vii] Comparing the saving from euthanasia to the annual health care budget, the saving from euthanasia/MAID amounts to about 0.04% of that annual budget. This is a completely insignificant amount when these two figures are put into context. Additionally, health care generally is notorious for cost overruns. As one quick example, the 2017 BC project of converting medical patients records' to electronic ones–a noble and efficient project in itself–hit a cost overrun of $130 million, a number very closely approximating the saving for using MAID.[viii] And there are many more examples. However, my point is not that continuing to allow MAID will offset health care cost overruns. My point is that the extra cost of making MAID illegal is a paltry amount compared to overall health care costs.
Let's now take a look at logic with respect to the policies surrounding suicide and euthanasia in Canada. According to a 2015 report, the annual cost of suicide in Canada is $2.4 billion, which includes such things as health service costs and lost productivity.[ix] A more recent report by a Standing Committee of the Senate found that since 2016 when a "Framework for Suicide Prevention" was published by the federal government, the suicide rate in Canada has basically remained static. In fact, this framework has not been demonstrably successful in preventing suicide in Canada. It further found that only one public health intervention thus far has been identified as having an evidence-based impact on suicide: means restriction.[x] In simple terms, means restriction translates into keeping suicide tools away from people with suicide ideation – things like guns, accessible high bridges, and of course, drugs. Here is the kicker, though, this report not once mentions either of the words "euthanasia" or "MAID." Is not euthanasia a means to suicide–and one that is daily becoming easier to access? With the present state of suicide policy in Canada, why could a suicidal person who survives a drug overdose, not turn around and apply for MAID because of his/her unlivable condition? There is thus a very costly and inconsistent mixture of policies surrounding suicide. Would it not be more consistent, cheaper, and easier to manage if there was a strong policy of life, not death?
There is a third issue in the culture of death in Canada that I have not previously discussed. It's one that rarely gets analyzed, but it is costly. This is the incarceration of convicted murderers. As of 2018, the latest year for this statistic I could find, there were 2984 convicted murderers in Canadian prisons.[xi] There is no reason to doubt that this number should be much different today. As of 2021, it cost $341 per day or $124,465 per year to keep an inmate in prison.[xii] Thus to keep 2984 convicted murderers in prison costs the federal government $371,403,560 per year. Now Canada eliminated the death penalty way back in 1976, which is all well and good because back then there was a consistent culture of life across the board – abortion and euthanasia were illegal. But things got seriously sidetracked over the intervening years, reversing the culture from life to death, yet ironically the death penalty is no longer part of it. But think of the savings the death penalty would incur – hundreds of millions of dollars to go along with the savings from euthanasia. Indeed, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in 2011, privately stated that he was in favour of the death penalty.[xiii]
From basic reasoning, though, isn't saving money by allowing euthanasia for someone who has been, and may very well continue to be, a highly functioning and productive member of Canadian society, and yet spending even more money on keeping convicted murderers alive, who, for the most part, will never be productive members of Canadian society, a little wrong-headed? Again, I am not arguing that we should instantly execute convicted murderers and bring back the death penalty. I am arguing that Canadian public policy regarding abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty must be consistent. It's life or it's death. Make a choice. For the sake of humanity, let's hope and pray it is the right one.
References:
[i] Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. (2023, April 8). Statistics in Canada. Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. Retrieved April 3, 2024. from https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/media/2020/07/statistics-abortion-in-canada.pdf.
[ii] Statista. (2024). Average amount of taxes paid by Canadian families in 2021, by type of tax. Statista. Retrieved April 3, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/596108/average-taxes-paid-by-canadian-families-by-type-of-tax/.
[iii] Sivakumar, V. (2024, January 6). Immigrant employment rate in Canada rose in 2023. CIC News. Retrieved April 3, 2024, from https://www.cicnews.com/2024/01/immigrant-employment-rate-in-canada-rose-in-2023-0142190.html#gs.6vfm60.
[iv] Trachtenberg, A.J. and Manns, B. (2017, January 23). Cost analysis of medical assistance in dying in Canada. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 189(3), E101–E105. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.160650.
[v] O'Neill, T. (2024, March 25) MAiD accounting shows death is $283.85 a person. The B.C. Catholic, 8.
[vi] Government of Canada. (2022). Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022. Health Canada. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/health-system-services/annual-report-medical-assistance-dying-2022.html#.
[vii] Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2022). National health expenditure trends, 2022 — Snapshot. CIHI. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.cihi.ca/en/national-health-expenditure-trends-2022-snapshot#refi.
[viii] Shaw, R. (2017, December 10). More delays, cost overruns hit Vancouver electronic health project. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://vancouversun.com/news/politics/more-delays-cost-overruns-hit-vancouver-electronic-health-project.
[ix] Bennett K, Rhodes AE, Duda S, Cheung AH, Manassis K, Links P, Mushquash C, Braunberger P, Newton AS, Kutcher S, Bridge JA, Santos RG, Manion IG, Mclennan JD, Bagnell A, Lipman E, Rice M, Szatmari P. (2015 June). A Youth Suicide Prevention Plan for Canada: A Systematic Review of Reviews. Can J Psychiatry. 60(6):245-57. doi: 10.1177/070674371506000603. PMID: 26175322; PMCID: PMC4501582.
[x] Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. (2023, June). DOING
WHAT WORKS: Rethinking the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention. Senate of Canada. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/441/SOCI/reports/SuicidePreventionReport_Final_e.pdf.
[xi] Bergeron-Oliver, A. and Gray, M. (2018, December 13). 1 in 4 convicted murderers serving time in minimum-security prisons. CTV News. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/1-in-4-convicted-murderers-serving-time-in-minimum-security-prisons-1.4217614?cache=yes%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue%3FclipId%3D104066.
[xii] Statista Research Department. (2024, March 11). Average daily inmate expenditures for adult federal, provincial and territorial correctional services in Canada in fiscal years 2001 to 2021. Statista. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/561289/average-dailyinmate-costs-adult-federal-provincial-territorial-correctional-services-canada/.
[xiii] Kheiriddin, T. (2012, March 15). Tasha Kheiriddin: Tori Stafford case shows why Canada needs the death penalty. National Post. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://archive.ph/20120718211741/http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/15/tasha-kheiriddin-stafford-case-shows-why-canada-needs-the-death-penalty/#selection-1887.0-1887.77.
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