Bacchus Barua

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Director, Health Policy Studies, Fraser Institute

Bacchus Barua is Director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Health Policy Studies. He completed his BA (Honours) in Economics at the University of Delhi (Ramjas College) and received an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University. Bacchus has conducted research on a range of key health care topics including hospital performance, access to new pharmaceuticals, the impact of aging on health care expenditures, and international comparisons of health care systems. He also designed the Provincial Healthcare Index (2013) and is the lead author of The Effect of Wait Times on Mortality in Canada, and Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada (2010–2014).

Recent Research by Bacchus Barua

The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2023

— May 9, 2023

The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2023 is a new study that finds an estimated 1.2 million Canadian patients waited for medically necessary treatment last year, and each lost an estimated $2,925 (on average) due to lost wages and reduced productivity during working hours. Put differently, long waits for surgery and medical treatment cost Canadians almost $3.6 billion in lost wages and productivity last year.

Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2022 Report

— Dec 8, 2022

Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2022 is a new study that finds Canada’s health-care wait times reached 27.4 weeks in 2022—the longest ever recorded—and 195 per cent higher than the 9.3 weeks Canadians waited in 1993, when the Fraser Institute began tracking medical wait times. Before this year, the longest recorded wait time was 25.6 weeks in 2021. Prince Edward Island has the longest wait times in the country this year, and Ontario recorded the shortest wait time, which was still more than five months long.

Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2022

— Nov 10, 2022

Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2022 is a new study that compares the performance of Canada’s health-care system to its international peers. The data shows that despite Canada being among the most expensive universal-access health-care systems in the OECD, the country has some of the lowest numbers of doctors, hospital beds, medical technologies, and longest wait times.