Nearly half of Canadians are choosing to forgo medical care because they don’t want to face overwhelming wait times.
According to data released by SecondStreet, 47% of Canadians have avoided visiting a healthcare provider for this reason.
“This data shows Canada’s health care system is in crisis, and Canadian patients know it,” said Harrison Fleming, Legislative and Policy Director at SecondStreet. “With nearly half of all Canadians staying home, instead of going to the doctor or hospital when they need help, even with record-high health care spending by provinces, it’s clear something isn’t working. It’s time to consider meaningful health reforms to rebuild confidence for Canadian patients.”
Although British Columbia increased its healthcare and education spending more than any other province, performance in both of these sectors has decreased.
The Atlantic provinces reported the worst figures when it comes to Canadians avoiding healthcare due to wait times, where 65% of the province’s residents fall into that category. The province with the lowest percentage of people avoiding healthcare due to wait times is Alberta, which is still at a staggering 41%.
Previous research from the Fraser Institute highlighted that Canada was facing the longest healthcare wait times ever recorded. Ontario had the shortest average wait time of 21.6 weeks. Nova Scotia had the longest wait time of 56.7 weeks.
Almost three-quarters, 73%, of SecondStreet’s survey respondents said that they support their province implementing an EU-style system which would reimburse them for surgical costs from care sought abroad in partner nations.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith previously said she was considering implementing a surgical wait time guarantee with a reimbursement from the province for services sought abroad if the service could not be delivered within the recommended period in the province.
As for seeking care abroad, 11% of Canadians reported travelling to other provinces or countries to avoid long wait times that were sometimes life-threatening.
“While Canadian patients are staying home or choosing to access health services somewhere else, governments can rebuild confidence by looking at proven solutions that work,” said Colin Craig, president of SecondStreet. “There are many better-performing universal systems in Europe that put patients first and give them more choices. Provincial governments should be looking at their best practices.”
Over half, 61%, of respondents said that Canada should keep its government-run system but also allow patients to pay at local private clinics if the public service cannot deliver timely care.
Between 2010 and 2014, private clinics in Saskatchewan reduced wait times by 47%.
The majority of Canadians believe that private enterprise could deliver faster healthcare services than their provincial healthcare systems.
A Quebec doctor with experience in both the public and private healthcare systems said that private clinics were the clear winner regarding patient care.
Canada’s healthcare system will need $2 trillion to meet the ageing population’s needs, according to a report published by the C.D. Howe Institute.
According to SecondStreet’s Died on a Waiting List annual report, nearly 60,000 Canadians have died while waiting for healthcare since 2018. An estimated 5.2 million Canadians are currently on healthcare wait lists.
“While there is no way of knowing how many Canadians have died because they chose not to seek healthcare due to the challenges of accessing government-provided treatment, the fact it is happening at all is unconscionable,” reads the report.
SecondStreet’s poll was conducted by Leger between Oct. 25-27 among 1,520 online respondents.