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“Single-payer systems—without fail—saddle patients with long wait times for vital treatments, low-quality care, and reduced access to basic medical services.
A new report from Canada’s Fraser Institute makes that even clearer.
Researchers found that the median wait time from seeing a specialist to getting treatment is now 9.5 weeks, up from 9.3 weeks in 2010. By the end of 2011, over 941,000 of my former countrymen were waiting for medical treatment.
Over the last two decades, wait times for specialists have more than doubled.
Fraser also surveyed physicians operating in 12 specialties across 10 provinces and found that the average time between a referral from a general practitioner and the actual administration of an elective procedure is now 19 weeks — the longest ever recorded.
“Physicians themselves believe that Canadians wait nearly three weeks longer than what they consider is clinically ‘reasonable’ for elective treatment,” researchers said.
Some Canadians have decided that enough is enough — and have traveled to the United States to get treatment. More than 46,000 did so last year, according to Fraser.
Canada’s healthcare system does not stand alone as a government-run failure.
Britain’s Royal National Institute of Blind People just released data showing that over half of the local trusts that make up the National Health Service have created “very restrictive” standards for cataract operations.
Tougher treatment criteria have led to longer wait times for people suffering from cataracts. These cloudy patches on the lens of the eye can cause blindness if left untreated.”
