Health Insurance Statistics in Canada (2026): Coverage
Private health insurance in Canada: $53.3B in benefits paid, ~2 in 3 covered, 1 in 5 without drug coverage. Sourced data on drugs, dental and cost.
Key takeaways
- Private insurers paid $53.3 billion in supplementary health benefits in 2024 — $16.6B for drugs, $12.6B for dental — up from $48.2B in 2023 (CLHIA).
- Roughly two in three Canadians have supplementary health coverage, and about 90% of it comes through an employer group plan rather than an individual policy (CLHIA; StatCan).
- Coverage gaps are large: about 1 in 5 adults (~7.5 million) had no prescription-drug insurance in 2021, and 35% had no dental insurance in 2022 — rising to 58% among seniors (StatCan).
- Private insurance is only part of 'private' spending: of the 28.8% of health spending that is private, insurers pay about 11.8% and households pay 14.2% out of pocket (CIHI; InsuranceXpert analysis).
Almost everyone gets Canada’s private-health number wrong. About 28.8% of health spending is private, and that figure is routinely reported as what insurers pay — but insurers cover roughly 11.8%, while households pay 14.2% straight out of pocket (InsuranceXpert analysis). Canadians spend more of their own money on health care than every private insurer in the country combined. What insurers do pay is $53.3 billion a year, concentrated in the two categories medicare never touched: drugs and dental. Sourced to CLHIA and CIHI.
How much do private health insurers pay in Canada?
Private insurers paid $53.3 billion in supplementary health benefits in 2024 — up from $48.2 billion in 2023. That covers the care medicare doesn’t: prescription drugs, dental, vision and paramedical services. The breakdown shows just how dominant drugs and dental are:
| Category | Benefits paid (2024) |
|---|---|
| Prescription drugs | $16.6 billion |
| Dental | $12.6 billion |
| Massage | $1.9 billion |
| Vision | $1.6 billion |
| Other paramedical | $1.0 billion |
| Total health benefits | $53.3 billion |
Source: CLHIA, 2024. Drug claims alone rose from $15.3B in 2023 to $16.6B in 2024.
Our math: benefits paid grew 10.6% in a single year ($48.2B → $53.3B), while drug claims specifically grew 8.5% ($15.3B → $16.6B) — so the fastest-growing cost is not the one everyone points at. Drugs and dental together are 54.8% of everything private insurers pay, which means nearly half the bill comes from the categories that get almost none of the attention (InsuranceXpert analysis on CLHIA figures).
Put in perspective, Canada’s life and health insurers pay roughly $400 million in benefits every day across all lines. Spread across the roughly 30 million Canadians with supplementary coverage, the $53.3 billion works out to about $1,780 per covered person per year — a useful anchor, because it is far more than most people believe their benefits are worth (InsuranceXpert analysis). The $53.3 billion health figure is the slice that fills the public-medicare gap — and it’s the number that matters for a private-health-insurance page, not the $143.3 billion all-in total (more on that in the methodology).
Source: CLHIA (2024 supplementary health benefits; total $53.3B)
What share of Canadians have private health insurance?
Roughly two in three Canadians have supplementary health coverage — and about 90% of it comes through an employer. Supplementary coverage reaches nearly 30 million Canadians, with health benefits specifically covering about 27 million (CLHIA, 2024). Only about 10% of private health policies are individually purchased; the rest are workplace group plans.
Workplace coverage has been climbing steadily:
| Year | Employees with workplace medical/dental benefits |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 63.3% |
| 2022 | 64.2% |
| 2023 | 66.4% |
| 2024 | 66.8% |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2024. This is the share of employees, not the whole population.
But access is uneven. In 2024, workplace benefits reached 80.9% of public-sector workers versus 62.1% in the private sector, 83.0% of unionized versus 59.7% of non-union employees, and 76.1% of full-time versus just 20.7% of part-time workers. Coverage was highest in Saskatchewan (71.7%) and lowest in Quebec (60.6%).
Workplace coverage also varies sharply by province — a function of local industry mix, unionization and the balance of public- versus private-sector employment:
| Province (2024) | Employees with workplace benefits |
|---|---|
| Saskatchewan | 71.7% |
| Manitoba | 70.3% |
| British Columbia | 70.0% |
| Alberta | 69.7% |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 63.6% |
| Prince Edward Island | 63.2% |
| Quebec | 60.6% |
| National average | 66.8% |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2024. The near-11-point spread between Saskatchewan and Quebec means where you work — and where you live — materially affects whether you need to buy your own coverage.
Source: Statistics Canada, Medical or dental benefits coverage, 2024
How much of Canada’s health spending is private?
About 28.8% of Canadian health spending is private — but private insurers pay only about 11.8% of the total. Total national health expenditure reached roughly $372 billion in 2024 ($9,054 per person, up 5.7%), and here’s how the private share splits:
| Source | Share of total health spending |
|---|---|
| Public sector | ~71.2% |
| Out-of-pocket (households) | 14.2% |
| Private insurance | 11.8% |
| Other private | 2.8% |
Source: CIHI (private-share composition, latest actuals). Canada’s 28.8% private share exceeds the OECD average of 25.3%.
This distinction is important and often mangled: saying “private insurers pay 28.8% of health costs” is wrong — insurers pay about 11.8%, and households pay more than insurers do, directly out of pocket (InsuranceXpert analysis). Private-sector health spending is also growing fast, projected up about 6.1% in 2024, driven by drugs, dental, vision and home care.
Where are the coverage gaps?
Millions of Canadians have no drug or dental coverage at all. Despite universal medicare, Canada is the only country with universal health care but no universal drug coverage — and the gaps are measurable:
| Coverage gap | Figure |
|---|---|
| Adults with no prescription-drug insurance (2021) | ~21% (~7.5 million) |
| Canadians with no dental insurance (2022) | 35% |
| Seniors 65+ with no dental insurance | 58% |
| Families under $70K net income with no dental insurance | 48% |
| Families ≥$90K with no dental insurance | 23% |
Sources: Statistics Canada (2021 drug coverage; 2022 dental). The uninsured are ~2.5× more likely to skip or delay medication over cost — 17% of the uninsured versus 7% of the insured.
For dental specifically, the 2022 split was 55% with private dental insurance, 4% public-only, and 35% with none — a gap concentrated among seniors and lower-income families, and precisely the gap the government’s Canadian Dental Care Plan is designed to close.
How big is the Canadian Dental Care Plan?
The CDCP — a government program, not private insurance — had about 6 million people enrolled by late 2025 and 6.5 million approved by mid-2026. It provides dental coverage to eligible residents without private dental insurance below an income threshold, and it has scaled quickly:
| CDCP milestone | Figure |
|---|---|
| Enrolled (late Nov 2025) | ~6 million |
| Approved (mid-2026) | 6.5 million |
| Received dental treatment (mid-2026) | ~4.3 million |
| Participating oral-health providers | 27,000+ |
| Funding | $13B over five years + $4.4B/year ongoing |
Source: Health Canada. Because the CDCP is public, its enrollees should not be added to private-insurance coverage counts — and for eligible seniors and children it has partly displaced private dental claims.
How much does individual health insurance cost?
Buying your own plan costs more per dollar of coverage than a workplace plan, because there’s no employer subsidy or group risk pooling. For the roughly one in ten private policies that are individually purchased — the self-employed, contractors, retirees and those whose jobs don’t offer benefits — typical pricing runs:
| Individual plan (2025–26 estimate) | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Single person, extended health | ~$75–$200 |
| Family, extended health | ~$150–$400+ |
| Adding dental | +~$30–$50 |
Source: PolicyMe / PolicyAdvisor estimates. Actual pricing depends on age, coverage level and family size.
Because there’s no employer contribution, an individual plan is most cost-effective when your predictable annual costs — recurring prescriptions, regular dental work, ongoing physiotherapy or therapy — are close to what the plan pays out. For sporadic, unpredictable needs, a high-deductible plan or a Health Spending Account can be more efficient than rich first-dollar coverage. Eligibility for the government’s Canadian Dental Care Plan can also remove much of the dental need for lower-income households, changing the individual-plan math entirely.
Who are the biggest health insurers in Canada?
Sun Life, Canada Life and Manulife lead the group-benefits market. By total insurance revenue, the big three held about 66.9% in 2024, but the group-benefits leaderboard specifically runs Sun Life, Canada Life, Manulife, Desjardins and Beneva (Benefits & Pensions Monitor). Sun Life has been the #1 group-benefits provider since 2010, covering 5 million-plus employees and dependents and paying 80 million-plus claims a year, with in-force group premiums around $12.6 billion.
The Blue Cross network — a set of regional not-for-profits (Medavie, Ontario, Pacific and others) — plus GreenShield round out the market alongside iA, RBC and BMO Life.
What’s driving health costs up?
Specialty and biologic drugs are the single biggest pressure. A small group of high-cost claimants drives a disproportionate share of spending, and it’s growing:
- 2.1% of drug claimants accounted for about 28% of total drug spend in 2025.
- Average cost per drug claimant rose about 6% (2023→2024) and 8% (2024→2025), driven by GLP-1 weight/diabetes drugs and biologics.
- Mental-health and massage claims rose 16% in 2024, and psychology spending is up about 35% over three years.
- Canada’s pharmaceutical market is forecast to grow from about US$51.6 billion (2024) to US$76.9 billion (2030), a 7% CAGR.
These trends — expensive specialty drugs plus rising mental-health utilization — are why employers and insurers face steady upward pressure on group premiums. For context, total national drug expenditure was projected to rise about 3.8% in 2024, and disability coverage — another benefit usually sold alongside health — paid out about $10 billion in 2024 while protecting roughly 12 million Canadians against income loss from illness or injury (CLHIA). Together, drugs, dental, paramedical and disability make private group benefits one of the most valuable non-wage components of Canadian employment.
Methodology: why do the sources disagree?
Health insurance data in Canada is scattered across the CLHIA, CIHI, Statistics Canada and Health Canada, each measuring something slightly different. Here’s how to reconcile them.
“Health” vs “life & health” figures. The CLHIA’s $143.3 billion headline bundles life insurance, disability, annuities and health. The number that describes private health insurance filling medicare gaps is $53.3 billion — that’s what we cite, along with its drug/dental/vision split, not the all-in total.
Private insurance ≠ out-of-pocket. CIHI’s ~28.8% “private” share is split roughly in half between private insurance (11.8%) and household out-of-pocket spending (14.2%). Any claim that “private insurers pay ~30% of health costs” conflates the two — insurers pay closer to one in eight dollars.
Coverage-rate ranges depend on the denominator. “Two in three covered” varies with the base: share of all Canadians versus employees versus working-age adults. StatCan’s precise 66.8% is employees with workplace benefits, not the whole population — so it isn’t directly comparable to the ~30 million “covered” figure.
The CDCP is government, not private. The ~6 million CDCP enrollees are a public program filling the dental gap. They shouldn’t be added to private-insurance counts, and the CDCP has partly displaced private dental claims for eligible groups.
Data-year mismatch. CLHIA benefits are 2024; CIHI shares are latest actuals to 2022 with 2023–24 forecasts; the big StatCan coverage-gap surveys are 2021–2022. We label the year on every figure because they don’t all describe the same moment.
Market-share basis. The 66.9% “big three” figure is share of total insurance revenue (life + health + wealth); the group-benefits-only ranking (Sun Life #1) uses in-force group premiums — a different metric and a different leaderboard.
Being explicit about these distinctions is what separates a trustworthy statistic from a misleading one — which is why we source and label every number on this page.
Frequently asked questions
What does private health insurance cover in Canada that medicare doesn't?
Public medicare covers physician and hospital care, but not most prescription drugs taken at home, dental care, vision care, or paramedical services like physiotherapy, chiropractic and mental-health therapy. Private (supplementary) health insurance is designed to pay for exactly these gaps. In 2024, private insurers paid $53.3 billion in health benefits — led by $16.6B for drugs and $12.6B for dental (CLHIA).
What percentage of Canadians have private health insurance?
Supplementary health coverage reaches nearly 30 million Canadians, and most estimates put it at roughly two in three of the population — overwhelmingly through workplace group plans, which make up about 90% of private health policies (CLHIA; StatCan). Statistics Canada's precise figure of 66.8% refers specifically to employees with workplace medical or dental benefits in 2024, not the entire population.
How much of Canada's health spending is private versus public?
About 28.8% of health spending is private and roughly 71% is public, out of a total of about $372 billion in 2024 (CIHI). But 'private' is split: out-of-pocket spending by households is 14.2%, private insurance is 11.8%, and other private is 2.8%. So private insurers actually pay only about one in eight health dollars — households directly pay more than insurers do.
How many Canadians lack drug or dental coverage?
About 1 in 5 adults — roughly 7.5 million Canadians — had no prescription-drug insurance in 2021, and Canada remains the only country with universal health care but no universal drug coverage (StatCan). For dental, 35% of Canadians had no dental insurance in 2022, rising to 58% among seniors aged 65 and over. The uninsured are about 2.5× more likely to skip or delay medication because of cost.
What is the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)?
The CDCP is a federal government program — not private insurance — that provides dental coverage to eligible Canadian residents without private dental insurance, below an income threshold. It had about 6 million people enrolled by late 2025 and 6.5 million approved by mid-2026, with 27,000+ participating providers, backed by $13 billion over five years (Health Canada). For eligible seniors and children it has partly displaced the need for a private dental plan.
How much does individual health insurance cost in Canada?
Individual extended-health and dental plans are priced by age, coverage level and family size, and cost more per dollar of coverage than group workplace plans because there's no employer subsidy. As a rough guide, individual plans run in the range of about $75–$200 a month for a single person and $150–$400+ for a family, with dental adding roughly $30–$50 (PolicyMe / PolicyAdvisor, 2025–26). A plan is most cost-effective when your predictable annual drug, dental and paramedical costs are close to what it pays out.
Why are workplace health benefit costs rising?
Specialty and biologic drugs are the main driver: about 2.1% of drug claimants accounted for roughly 28% of total drug spend in 2025, and the average cost per drug claimant rose about 6% (2023→2024) and 8% (2024→2025), pushed by GLP-1 and specialty medications. Mental-health and massage claims rose 16% in 2024, and psychology spending is up about 35% over three years (Benefits Canada).