Dear John,

My name is Bacchus Barua, and I am the Director of Health Policy Studies here at the Fraser Institute.

All those studies you see us release about hospital wait times, public health insurance, and the performance of universal health care systems around the world? Those are the result of the hard work done by our small health care studies team at the Institute.

Our mission is simple: to document the performance of Canada’s health care system and explore ways to offer better universal health care for all Canadians.

Unfortunately, many of our studies found that Canada continues to lag behind other countries on key healthcare indicators.

And while COVID has certainly put plenty of pressure on our system, the reality is that Canada was underperforming well before the pandemic.

In September we did a study calculating how much our “free” health care systems actually costs Canadian families. It found that a typical Canadian family of four will pay an estimated $15,039 for public health-care insurance this year, and that this cost has increased substantially over the last 25 years – and has risen more quickly than its income.

One might argue these costs are justified if they generate great results.

Unfortunately, another study we put out this year found that despite spending more on health care than most other developed countries with universal coverage, Canada has some of the lowest numbers of doctors, hospital beds, and medical technologies.

We also have the longest wait times.

Our 30th annual survey of physicians across the country found that Canadian’s waited an estimated 25.6 weeks for treatment after referral by a family doctor - 175% longer than in 1993, when it was just 9.3 weeks.

But we don’t just publish doom and gloom here at the Fraser Institute – we also offer solutions.

In October we published a study that examined changes that could be made in the way health care is funded and overseen in Canada. The study revisited changes to Canada’s welfare system in the 1990s, when Ottawa removed strings to federal funding for welfare to provide the provinces with more autonomy and flexibility.

Those changes spurred innovative reforms by provinces, and led to the proportion of Canadians on welfare dropping by half! Similar reforms to our health care funding model that would allow provinces greater flexibility to innovate could lead to equally positive results.

Another study we released this year showed that Canada remains one of only a handful of countries that funds hospitals primarily with lump sum payments, regardless of how many patients they treat.

Virtually every other developed country with universal healthcare has moved to funding hospitals based on services provided to patients – also known as activity-based funding. The study confirmed that moving to activity-based funding in Canada could improve the quantity and quality of health care services while reducing wait times.

John, with all these challenges facing our system, I believe the work we do is more important than ever.

If you agree with me, I’d like to ask you to make a donation today.

We of course do not accept government funding. We rely entirely on supporters like you to continue doing our important work!

Thank you for your support.

From everyone at the Fraser Institute, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Bacchus Barua
Director, Health Policy Studies
The Fraser Institute