Posted by
Always To The Right on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:27:11 PM
From The Heartland Institute, "Canadians Wait Longer For Medical Care," Published in: Health Care News
Publication date: January 2007
According a new study on medical care in Canada, released in
October 2006 by the Fraser Institute, "waiting times are the legacy of
a medical system offering low expectations cloaked in lofty rhetoric."
Since
the mid-1980s, the Vancouver-based think tank has produced an annual
report on how long patients are required to wait for medical care in
Canada. As a result of the group's research, treatment waiting times
are now part of the public policy debate on the quality of the Canadian
health care system.
Waiting ...
In
its 16th annual installment, the report titled "Waiting Your Turn"
tracks how waiting times vary across Canadian provinces depending on
the type of treatment needed. The report also documents waiting times
for referral to specialists and the subsequent amount of time spent
waiting for actual treatment from the specialist.
"Despite
all of the promises made by Canada's provincial and federal
governments, and despite the fact that Canadians are spending more on
health care than ever before, the total wait time in Canada continues
to hover near the 18-week mark as it has since 2003," coauthor Nadeen
Esmail said in an interview for this article. "Equally troubling is the
reality that the total wait time in 2006 is 91 percent longer than it
was in 1993."
These findings should give pause to
proponents of universal coverage, who often cite Canada as an example
of a country where health care costs less than care in the United
States and everyone has free health care at the point of service.
"While
many proclaim Canada's Medicare program to be one of the best in the
world, or suggest it should be the model for reform in the United
States," Esmail said, "the reality is that health spending in Canada
outpaces that in most other developed nations that, like Canada,
guarantee access to care regardless of ability to pay, and yet access
to health care in this country lags that available in most of these
other nations."
... and Waiting
In
2006, the average amount of time spent waiting to receive treatment
after referral by a general practitioner averaged 17.8 weeks across
Canada. At 14.9 weeks, Ontario had the shortest waits. Prince Edward
Island, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick had average waits of 25.8
weeks, 28.5 weeks, and 31.9 weeks, respectively.
Patients
referred to a neurosurgeon waited an average of 21 weeks just to see a
specialist. Getting treatment required an additional 10.7 weeks.
Patients
waited an average of 16.2 weeks to see an orthopedic surgeon, and
another 24.2 weeks for treatment to be performed after the initial
visit.
The number of people routinely waiting for services
is staggering, according to the report. In 2003, the most recent year
for which data were available from Statistics Canada, approximately 1.1
million people had trouble accessing care on a timely basis.
About
201,000 had problems obtaining non-emergency services. An additional
607,000 had problems getting in to see a specialist, and about 301,000
patients experienced problems obtaining diagnostic procedures.
"So much for the myth of government-run health care being compassionate and
fair," said David Gratzer, a Canadian doctor and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "Canadians wait and wait and wait."
Rationing
In
Canada, waiting lists are considered a way of rationing medical care
and holding down health care spending. Because health care in Canada is
largely free at the point of service, demand is likely to exceed supply.