Wait Times for Health Care in Canada Doubled Since 1993

This blog has discussed the evidence that Obamacare is reducing access to medical care. For those interested in the future of American health care, a look north of the border may be in order.

The Fraser Institute, an independent, non-profit Canadian research institute has published an annual report measuring data that the governments would prefer that the citizens ignore: How long it takes to get health care. It now takes over four months for Canadians to see a specialist after referral from a primary-care doctor:

The median wait time for Canadians seeking medically necessary surgery or other therapeutic treatment remains stalled at 18.2 weeks, same as 2013, finds the 24th annual wait times report by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

In 1993, the wait time was just 9.3 weeks.

“Despite high levels of health care spending, Canadians continue to endure unacceptably long wait times for treatment,” said Bacchus Barua, senior economist at the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Health Policy Studies and lead author of Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2014 Report.

The study examines the total wait time faced by patients from referral by a general practitioner, to consultation with a specialist, and subsequent receipt of treatment.

For example, this year patients can expect to wait 42.2 weeks (from referral to treatment) for orthopaedic surgery, up from 39.6 weeks in 2013 and 19.5 weeks in 1993.

Patients can also expect to wait 21.5 weeks (one month longer than in 2013) just for an initial appointment with a neurosurgeon. And after that initial appointment, they may wait an additional 9.6 weeks for treatment.

On a somewhat better note, patients face much shorter referral-to-treatment wait times, relative to other treatments, for medical oncology (3.3 weeks) and radiation oncology (4.2 weeks).

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