In 2017, wait times cost the Canadian economy an estimated $1.9 billion—roughly $1,800 per person waiting.
access to health care
Even the U.K. has a robust parallel private system, often used as an alternative to the ailing National Health Service.
Last year in B.C., the average wait time between referral to treatment was 26.6 weeks.
In Switzerland, the health-care system features managed competition among insurance companies and health-care providers.
Canada ranks dead-last for the number of acute-care beds.
The average family of four will pay about $12,000 for public health care in 2017.
In the Commonwealth Fund’s rankings of health-care systems, Canada scored a dismal ninth out of 11 countries.
New survey corroborates troubling health-care wait-times trend.
Single-payer health-care systems are often only able to lower costs by rationing services.
In 2016, patients in Canada could expect to wait 20 weeks between GP referral and treatment.