New report highlights Canada’s wait times and our bizarre government monopoly on healthcare

Happy New Year! The fight for Canadian governments to recognize the right of all Canadians to seek out healthcare continues into the new decade. The case’s final closing arguments will be made the week of February 24th in Vancouver, following which we expect up to a year for a judgment to be rendered by the court.

Today we’d like to share with you a new report released yesterday by the Fraser Institute called Understanding Universal Health Care Reform Options: Private Insurance. In this report, the researchers found that among 17 high-income countries with public healthcare, only Canada has laws prohibiting private health insurance for medically necessary treatment. The report also highlights that among those countries, Canada has the longest waiting lists for medically necessary treatment.

Canada’s lackluster health outcomes have been reported in reports we have shared to our supporters previously (e.g. Commonwealth Fund, 2017). This is precisely why the CCF has taken up this fight for patient rights. It’s simply absurd that Canada—and Canada alone—prevents its citizens from fully exercising their fundamental right to seek out healthcare. Please consider supporting this case. We fully expect this case to make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, so any donations made now will still help us pay the legal fees in the subsequent stages of this important project for healthcare choice and freedom.