In other countries with universal health care, patients are free to seek care privately and are not shackled to the government system.
healthcare costs
The median wait time in Ontario last year (21.6 weeks) was more than twice as long as the 9.1-week wait in 1993.
The province's median wait between referral and receipt of treatment was 33.5 weeks.
The median wait time between referral from a family doctor to treatment now stands at 27.7 weeks.
Among universal health-care countries, Canada ranked 28th out of 30 for the number of physicians available per 1,000 people.
Australia, Switzerland and Germany all deliver more timely universal care with comparable levels of spending to Canada.
In 2022, the wait between a specialist visit and treatment was 27.4 weeks.
Last year, the median wait time between referral to treatment in Nova Scotia was 58.2 weeks, dwarfing the national average.
Canada ranked 28th out of 30 universal health-care countries with 2.8 physicians per 1,000 people.
According to estimates, Ontarians were waiting for 369,402 procedures in 2022.