Free health care is a frequent boast of Canadians and the number one reason Canada outshines the United States..Free health care is a point of envy for Americans who admire it..They’re both wrong..There is no such thing as free health care; there is only a difference in how health care is funded in each country..Canadians pay through their taxes. Americans pay out of pocket through a number of complicated procedures..“Most Canadians are unaware of the true cost of health care because they never receive a bill for medical services,” said a report by the Fraser Institute. “This leads many people to grossly underestimate the true cost of publicly-funded health care. When people speak of ‘free’ health care in Canada, they are entirely ignoring the substantial taxpayer-funded cost of the system.”.Total health spending in Canada is expected to reach $308 billion in 2021, or $8,019 per Canadian, compared to more than $10,000 per person, on average in the US. Expect those numbers to rise when the total cost of COVID-19 is factored in..It really comes down to what are you getting for what you’re paying, as laid out in a new study by the Angus Reid Institute (ARI)..In the study, Americans were asked the same questions as Canadians about their own need of and access to health services. The study found there was no significant difference in the number of Americans seeking care (70%) relative to the number who needed health care in Canada (74%)..This is largely where that consistency of experience ends..ARI found Americans have more confidence in their health care system than do Canadians, with 70% of those down south saying they feel assured they would get care in a timely fashion in an emergency. In Canada, only 37% hold the same belief..In terms of non-confidence, Americans come in at 25% and Canadians at 61%. ARI’s health care access index found 15% of Canadians enjoy comfortable access compared to 29% of Americans. Meanwhile 31% of Canadians faced some challenges, with Americans close at 28%..In terms of having chronic difficulty accessing health care, 29% of Canadians said yes, compared to 13% of Americans..In addition, prior to the pandemic Canadians were much more likely to wait for more than a month for a specialist appointment than Americans..ARI asked respondents how easy it was to access five types of health care:.• Non-emergency: In the US 83% said easy/very easy. In Canada 56% said easy/very easy.• Emergency: In the US 79% said easy/very easy. In Canada 47% said easy/very easy.• Diagnostic check: In the US 84% said easy/very easy. In Canada 59% said easy/very easy.• Specialist appointment: In the US 71% said easy/very easy. On Canada 42% said easy/very easy.• Surgery: In the US 71% said easy/very easy. In Canada 49% said easy/very easy.“Across every item on the list of services canvassed, non-emergency and emergency care, surgery, appointments with a specialist, and diagnostic tests, Americans are far more likely to say that this service was either easy or very easy to access,” says ARI..“Canadians are dealing with considerably more difficulty in accessing care, with 41% saying that over the last six months they either had a difficult time accessing, or were totally unable to access, one of five key health services.”.“On the question of access however, it is important to address a significant point of methodology. One may question, given the system of private, user-pay health care in the United States, the extent to which access depends significantly on income,” says ARI..“While lower income respondents in the United States are more likely than those in higher income brackets to report facing barriers to health care access, the same is true in Canada.”.ARI also asked about health care access by friends and family..“Americans are much less likely to say they know someone who faced obstructed, or poor, health care, while Canadians are nearly three times as likely to report a loved one was unable to get a diagnostic test (30% Canadian; 12% American).”.“Canadians are four times as likely (23% vs. 6%) to say they know someone who could not get surgery. Overall, 43% of Americans say they know no one in their life who received inadequate health care, with 28% Canadians saying the same.”.Health-care systems across Canada have come under extreme pressures, including emergency room closures and staff shortages, which have become unsustainable, Dr. Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association, told Global News..“The biggest challenge that we’re seeing is just generally how people in Canada are able to access basic health-care services because it’s really happening across all aspects of the system,” Smart said..“What we’re really seeing is just the entire system is under incredible strain. And the result of that is Canadians really struggling to get the care they need in a timely way.”.This is the first of three columns by Myke Thomas, reviewing Angus Reid studies of Canadian health care.
