Canadians Are Less Confident In Their Health Care System Than Americans & Here's Why
Many are struggling to find a family doctor right now.
A hospital in Vancouver. Right: A sign for an emergency room.
While we can all be very proud of Canada's free health care, it seems access to it is something we're less excited about.
As per a duo of surveys whose results were released on September 7 and 8 by the polling company Angus Reid Institute, some Canadians are feeling pretty underconfident about their access to Canada's health care services.
According to one survey by the Angus Reid Institute, Canadian respondents actually have lower confidence and feel they have less ease of access compared to people in the United States.
Per the results, around 61% of Canadian respondents said they would not be confident in getting timely care if they or a family member needed emergency care today.
When compared with the 25% of American respondents who believe the same thing about their health care system, it seems Canucks really have lost faith.
On top of that, Americans are twice as likely to report they received comfortable access to care (30%) compared to Canadians (15%).
In nearly every key medical service — emergency care, non-emergency care, diagnostic testing, specialist appointments and surgery — Canadians reported it was more difficult to gain access than Americans did.
Of course, this is not a reflection of the state of the Canadian health care system and is just a measure of public opinion and confidence in it.
If you're wondering why Canadians are having such strong feelings about the system, another survey might provide some insight.
Apparently, about 6 million Canadians do not have a family doctor at the moment, with around 35% of AR's respondents saying they've been searching for one for over a year, and 29% saying they've given up on finding a GP.
Plus, even those who have a family general practitioner are having issues. Around 33% say they still have a difficult time getting an appointment when they need one.
The study also points out that 41% of those surveyed say it takes over a week to get an appointment outside of annual checkups and other similar appointments.
Everything said and done, it looks like there could be work to be done to restore public faith in the system in Canada.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.