POLICY BRIEF: Another Poll Shows Canadians Want Health Reform

A new Leger poll, commissioned by SecondStreet.org, once again shows that Canadians are hungry for health reform.

The poll was conducted  between October 25-27 among 1,520 respondents online. The full polling data can be found below, but a snapshot of the data shows: 

• 73% of Canadians continue to support the idea of their provincial government copying a policy in the European Union (EU) that gives patients the right to be reimbursed for their surgical costs abroad;
• 61% of Canadians support keeping our government-run system, but allowing patients to pay at non-government health facilities (or use extended health insurance):
• 47% of Canadians actually avoid seeking the care they need because they don’t want to face overwhelming wait times; and
• 11% of Canadians have traveled to other provinces or outside the country to pay for treatment to avoid long and sometimes life-threatening wait times or unsatisfactory care from local government- run health facilities. Patients from all income brackets traveled for treatment (<$60k = 9%, $60-100k = 12%, $100k+ = 11%).

The full policy brief, which includes the complete poll data, can be seen here.