The editors of the Wall Street Journal pass along the results of a study of wait times for health care in Canada:
The Fraser Institute’s new report, “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada†in 2017, documents the problem. The Vancouver-based think tank surveyed physicians in 12 specialties across 10 provinces and found “a median waiting time of 21.2 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment.†This is worse than 2016’s wait of 20 weeks, making it the longest in the history of Fraser’s annual survey and 128% longer than the first survey in 1993.
The wait to see a specialist for a consultation is now 177% longer than in 1993, while the wait from consultation to treatment is 95% longer than in 1993. At 10.9 weeks it is more than three weeks longer than the 7.2-week wait considered clinically reasonable. The shortest waits are in radiation and oncology. But long waits for orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and ophthalmology, among others, far exceed what’s recommended and aren’t benign.
Author Bacchus Barua says the negative consequences can include “increased pain, suffering, and mental anguish†and sometimes “poorer medical outcomes—transforming potentially reversible illnesses or injuries into chronic, irreversible conditions, or even permanent disabilities.†He adds that “in many instances, patients may also have to forgo†wages while they await treatment.
Demand for diagnostic technology also outstrips supply, creating shortages in the form of lines: “This year, Canadians could expect to wait 4.1 weeks for a computed tomography (CT) scan, 10.8 weeks for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and 3.9 weeks for an ultrasound.†CT scan waits have increased while the nationwide average for MRI and ultrasound waits decreased this year.
Some provinces perform better than others. “The shortest specialist-to-treatment waits are found in Ontario (8.6 weeks)â€â€”still longer than reasonable—“while the longest are in Manitoba (16.3 weeks),†says the report. Waits between general-practitioner referral to treatment in Ontario and Newfoundland & Labrador shortened this year but the nationwide wait went up as access in the other eight provinces worsened. In New Brunswick the median wait from general practitioner to treatment is an appalling 41.7 weeks.
I have no opinion on whether this is right, wrong, fair, unfair, or anything else. I’m merely passing it along.
My one observation is that there’s a big difference between Canada’s circumstances and ours. People in Canada have the alternative of seeking care in the United States and they are increasingly availing themselves of of that option. There is no second United States for Americans to go to. If Americans engage in “medical tourism”, as it’s called, it entails greater travel and they assume higher risks than Canadians do when traveling to the United States.
The Fraser Institute is Conservative and has historically challenged the consensus that the Canadian system is perfect. Second, 1993 was before the drastic health care cuts that occurred in the mid 90’s when the Canadian gov had to deal with an out of control deficit – a better base for comparison is 2000.
Why the US cannot renegotiate NAFTA to include a right for Americans to access the Canadian system as if they were Canadian if they pay the full cost? Given the lower costs; a lot of people might be willing….