Bacchus Barua

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Director, Health Policy Studies, Fraser Institute

Bacchus Barua is Director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Health Policy Studies. He completed his BA (Honours) in Economics at the University of Delhi (Ramjas College) and received an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University. Bacchus has conducted research on a range of key health care topics including hospital performance, access to new pharmaceuticals, the impact of aging on health care expenditures, and international comparisons of health care systems. He also designed the Provincial Healthcare Index (2013) and is the lead author of The Effect of Wait Times on Mortality in Canada, and Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada (2010–2014).

Recent Research by Bacchus Barua

The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2024

— May 2, 2024

The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2024 finds that long waits for surgery and medical treatment cost Canadians almost $3.5 billion in lost wages and lower productivity last year, with an estimated 1.2 million patients waiting for medically necessary treatment in 2023, and each losing an estimated $2,871 (on average) during working hours.

Meritocracy, Personal Responsibility, and Encouraging Investment: Lessons from Singapore’s Economic Growth Miracle

— Feb 8, 2024

Meritocracy, Personal Responsibility, and Encouraging Investment: Lessons from Singapore’s Economic Growth Miracle finds that western countries including Canada can learn from Singapore’s pro-growth policies, which have helped transform Singapore from a comparatively poor country into one of the world’s richest countries.

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The Role of Private Hospitals in Australia’s Universal Health Care System

— Jan 16, 2024

The Role of Private Hospitals in Australia’s Universal Health Care System is a new study that finds Australia spends slightly less than Canada on its universal health care, but routinely outperforms Canada on key health indicators. It also delivers universal health-care differently by including a large role for private hospitals, with 41 per cent of all hospital care being delivered in private hospitals in 2021/22.