Sickest Canadians Face the Highest Barriers to Care
Almost 60 percent of those with ongoing health concerns have below-average household incomes, making it difficult to afford certain types of care and medications. Secondary costs such as paying for transportation to appointments, child care and lost wages from time away from work can also present obstacles to care, the Health Council said.
In fact, 12 percent of sicker patients reported not visiting a doctor due to cost concerns, compared with just four percent of other Canadians. Over a quarter of health-care services are paid for through private sources, either out-of-pocket by patients or through private insurance.
The survey also found that this group of patients fares worse when it comes to coordination of care. People with chronic conditions are likely to see multiple providers and specialists, yet many said they didn’t always receive help from their doctor’s office in coordinating that care.
About half of patients had to wait a month or longer to see a specialist, while almost one-quarter said test results or medical records were not available when they arrived for their appointments.
Full article on reduced access to care for Canadians.
Interesting result. Not surprising.
By contrast, those Canadians who are healthy as a horse probably never have to worry about being told the wait to schedule an MRI is months or the waiting list to get a hip replacement is two years.
The takeaway is this: stay healthy!
No surprise here for me.