In other countries with universal health care, patients are free to seek care privately and are not shackled to the government system.
health care reform
The median wait time for surgery in Alberta was 33.5 weeks, one of the longest waits in the country.
The province went from having some of the longest waits for surgery to some of the shortest.
Australia’s health-care system outperformed Canada’s on many measures including the availability of physicians and hospital beds.
Only 62 per cent of patients in Canada received elective care within four months compared to 99 per cent in Germany.
The median wait time between referral from a family doctor to treatment now stands at 27.7 weeks.
Among universal health-care countries, Canada ranks poorly on several key indictors including number of hospital beds.
Among universal health-care countries, Canada ranked 28th out of 30 for the number of physicians available per 1,000 people.
Last year, the median wait time between referral to treatment in Nova Scotia was 58.2 weeks, dwarfing the national average.
According to estimates, Ontarians were waiting for 369,402 procedures in 2022.