The Social Costs of High-Priced Health Services

The reports to the Royal Commission made by academic experts identified other costs as well. Infant mortality rates varied across the country and demonstrated not only the maldistribution of medical and hospital services, but also the economic disparities between affluent and less developed regions. In Ontario between 1959 and 1961, the per capita income of $1,807 correlated with an infant death rate of 23.5 per 10,000, in contrast to Newfoundland where the per capita income of $874 was matched by an infant mortality rate of 37.5 per 1,000.