Half of Canadians have avoided hospitals because of long waits and more than 25 per cent said they have turned to the private system for care, according to a new poll.
uncertain
they → avoid → poll
Most Canadians say health services where they live need to change — 58 per cent believe the system needs to change in a major way — and 61 per cent are open to allowing people to pay for surgery at private clinics if the public system can’t deliver timely care, the survey found.
asserted
survey → say → care
“Canadians are very OK with the idea of more private health services being used,” said Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications at the Montreal Economic Institute, or MEI.
asserted
Brossard → use → Institute
“They see it as a safety valve” rather than simply being added to months-long waiting lists for publicly funded care, he said.
asserted
he → see → care
The new Leger poll, jointly commissioned by the MEI, SecondStreet.org and the Canadian Constitution Foundation, found many Canadians are avoiding seeking medical attention because of wait times.
asserted
Canadians → commission → times
“When people avoid seeking medical attention for a health issue, it doesn’t just magically go away,” SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig said in a news release.
asserted
Craig → avoid → release
Only 10 per cent of those polled believe the health-care system doesn’t need to change and “just needs more public funding.”
asserted
system → poll → funding
By contrast, 84 per cent said health services where they live require some degree of change: 58 per cent said major change and 26 per cent said minor.
asserted
cent → say → minor
The poll didn’t ask what people specifically believed needed changing.
asserted
people → ask → ?
However, “people recognize it’s not just a matter of funding,” Brossard said.
asserted
Brossard → recognize → funding
“What we typically hear is, ‘If we were just able to properly fund the health system, everything would be OK.’
asserted
everything → hear → system
It’s what we’ve been hearing for 40, 50 years,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → years
“The result has still been very long wait times to get surgery, long wait times at the emergency room and patients without family doctors.
asserted
result → get → doctors
That has remained a constant for the past 40 or 50 years.
asserted
That → remain → years
“People recognize that something is not working.
asserted
something → recognize → ?
It’s not just a lack of money,” Brossard said.
asserted
Brossard → ’ → money
When asked, “Do you ever avoid going to a hospital or a doctor because you don’t believe you will receive timely treatment,” 50 per cent of those polled responded yes; 47 per cent said they haven’t avoided hospitals or doctors.
asserted
they → ask → hospitals
Women (59 per cent), the under-55s (55 per cent) and people living in Quebec (56 per cent) were more likely to have avoided visiting a hospital or doctor.
asserted
Women → live → hospital
Some six million Canadians don’t have a family doctor and even many of those who do face long waits to be seen.
asserted
who → have → waits
Untreated problems can grow worse, ultimately requiring a higher, and more expensive level of care than what they would have needed otherwise, Brossard said.
asserted
Brossard → grow → what
But surveys have found only 36.9 per cent of adults with a family doctor or clinic can get same- or next-day urgent care.
asserted
cent → find → care
Meanwhile, emergency departments are reporting historic wait times, with one in 10 people spending 14 hours or more in emergency in 2024-25, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reported this summer.
asserted
Institute → report → Information
“There are a lot of people who might have an ailment that actually needs (medical attention), but they ask themselves, ‘Can I afford to wait four hours, six hours, eight hours until I see a doctor?’” Brossard said.
uncertain
Brossard → be → doctor
In 2024-25, 1.2 million emergency visits — about eight per cent of all emergency visits — involved someone leaving the emergency room before being assessed by a doctor, according to CIHI.
uncertain
visits → involve → CIHI
People who leave emergency without being seen have a 14 per cent higher risk of death or hospitalization within seven days, Canadian researchers have reported.
asserted
researchers → leave → days
to the Leger poll, 27 per cent of Canadians have paid for private health care to avoid long wait times and “unsatisfactory services in the public system.”
asserted
cent → pay → system
Most sought it within their own province, while some (four per cent) went outside their province, or outside the country (four per cent).
asserted
some → seek → cent
Nearly half of Quebec residents (46 per cent) said they’ve used their own money or extended health insurance to pay for private care.
asserted
they → say → care
“Canadians recognize that our ‘everything-by-the state’ approach just isn’t working in getting everybody the treatment they need,” Brossard said.
asserted
Brossard → recognize → treatment
“Universal access is something we can do with a mixture of both public and private facilities.”
asserted
we → do → facilities
Many health agencies disagree, worrying that wait times in the public system will worsen with more private care and create a two-tier system that will give people access to care based on their ability to pay, not medical need.
The Canadian Medical Association has called for a federal review of Alberta’s “dual-practice” model that allows some doctors working in public hospitals to also offer private care.
The poll’s results suggest “there is a lag in terms of where Canadians are, and where the public debate needs to be,” Brossard said.
asserted
Brossard → disagree → terms
The new Leger poll surveyed 1,510 Canadians aged 18 and older between Oct. 16 and 18.
asserted
poll → survey → Oct.
For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
asserted
sample → yield → 20
The Aporia
