Fraser Institute study finds we pay more, get less in health care
Despite spending more on health care than most other developed countries with universal coverage, Canada has a relatively short supply of doctors and hospital beds, a new study finds.
It also has the longest wait times, the Fraser Institute study reveals.
“Canada’s health-care system remains one of the most expensive in the world yet struggles with a comparative dearth of medical resources and comparatively long wait times,” said report co-author Bacchus Barua.
The study compared 28 universal health-care systems in developed countries, focusing on cost, availability and use of resources, and access to care.
In 2017, the latest year of comparable data, Canada’s health-care spending as a share of GDP was 11.1 per cent, second only to Switzerland.
But, despite this, Canada ranked 26th for number of doctors (2.8 per 1,000 people) and for the number of hospital beds (2.0 per 1,000 people).
Canada placed 21st for number of MRI machines, with 10.4 per million people, and 21st for CT scanners with 15.9 per million.
And Canada ranked dead last for wait times among the 10 comparable universal health-care countries, with the highest percentage of patients (30 per cent) who waited two months or longer to see a specialist, and the highest percentage (18 per cent) who waited four months or longer for elective surgery.
