Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background and asking questions a typical voter might ask.
If we want to judge the efficacy of Canada’s Medicare system, a comparison of a few fairly recent indicators from above and below the 49th parallel gives pause for thought. Here’s some relevant stats from a Healthcare in Canada article in Wikipedia:
In 2015, life expectancy in Canada was 82.2 years, in the US 79.3; under five mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 4.9 vs 6.5 (2016); maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births, 7.3 vs 26.4 (2015); physicians per 1,000 people, the same at 2.6 (2013); nurses per 1,000 people 9,5 vs 11.1 (2013); per capita expenditure on health, $4,735 vs $9,892 (2016); healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP, 10.1% vs 17.2% (2016); percentage of government revenue spent on health, 18.1% vs 21.3 (2014)%; percentage of health costs paid by government, 70.3% vs 49.1% (2016).
Canadians strongly prefer their health care system to what is offered in the United States, but polls also show we are not satisfied with the level of service being offered.
A 2016 study by the U.S. based Commonwealth Fund (also cited on Wikipedia) found that Canada’s wait times for all categories of services rank either at the bottom or second to the bottom out of the group of eleven surveyed countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States).
Canada’s wait time on emergency services is the longest among the eleven nations, with 29% of Canadians reporting that they waited for more than four hours the last time they went to an emergency department. Canada also has the longest wait time for specialist appointments, with 56% of all Canadians waiting for over four weeks.
Canada ranks last on all but one of the other wait time categories, including same or next-day appointments, same-day answers from doctors, and elective surgeries. Canada ranked second to last for access to after-hour care. The study noted that Canada’s wait time improvements have been negligible over the last decade, despite government investments .
Another gripe about the cost of medical care in Canada is the largely unsupported cost of prescription drugs. The final report of the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare, titled, A Prescription for Canada: Achieving Pharmacare for all says:
“Canadians spent $34 billion on prescription medicines in 2018. Drugs are the second biggest expenditure in health care, after hospitals. We spend even more on drugs than on doctors. On a per capita basis, only the United States and Switzerland pay more for prescription drugs.
“Yet for all that spending, there are huge gaps in coverage. One in five Canadians struggle to pay for their prescription medicines. Three million don’t fill their prescriptions because they can’t afford to. One million Canadians cut spending on food and heat to be able to afford their medicine. Many take out loans, even mortgage their homes. Sadly, far too many Canadians die prematurely or endure terrible suffering, illness or poor quality of life because modern medicines are out of reach for them.”
The report notes that Canada is the only county in the world with a universal health care plan that does not also provide universal coverage for prescription drugs. That renders the health care system in Canada ‘critically flawed’ says the advisory council report.
It recommends Ottawa work with provincial and territorial governments and stakeholders – who deliver health care – to establish universal, single-payer, public pharmacare in Canada that is:
- Universal: all residents of Canada should have equal access to a national pharmacare system;
- Comprehensive: pharmacare should provide a broad range of safe, effective, evidence-based treatments;
- Accessible: access to prescription drugs should be based on medical need, not ability to pay;
- Portable: pharmacare benefits should be portable across provinces and territories when people travel or move; and
- Public: a national pharmacare system should be both publicly funded and administered.
Citizen X would like to know:
- Do you think the federal government, through the Canada Health Act, is doing enough to make health care affordable and accessible to all Canadians?
- If your party forms government, what measures would be taken to improve health care for Canadians?
- Do you and your party support recommendations contained in the final report of the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare?
