42%加拿大人表示愿意去美国花钱看病！对加拿大医疗彻底失望！
曾几何时，“免费医疗”这四个字可谓是加拿大的金字招牌。大家都明白，如果自费医疗，生一场大病意味着倾家荡产，小病也会伤筋动骨。如果免费医治？那太有安全感了。
但如今大家都清楚加拿大的免费医疗意味着什么：急诊室无尽的等待、医护水平参差不齐、非紧急却仍然需要的手术能排到几个月甚至一年后……对免费医疗的赞誉，已经远远少于批判。
有一个念头也许也在你的脑海中闪过：南下，跨越边境，去美国医院自费治疗！
愿意去美国的治疗的加拿大人，已逾四成
2023年1月，益普索进行了一项针对加拿大人的民意调查，题为“如果你生病了，是否会考虑去美国自费治疗”，当时有32%的受访者表示愿意。
2024年2月，同样的调查结果让人吃惊：高达42%的加拿大人表示愿意去美国自费治疗，比例在一年内提升了10%！按照这个趋势，明年可能会有半数以上的加拿大人愿意去美国自费治疗。这对加拿大各级政府绝对是莫大的讽刺 —— 曾经加拿大人嘲笑美国看病还需要钱，如今却想方设法去美国寻求及时地治疗。
益普索公共事务副总裁Sean Simpson在接受《全球新闻》采访时，也坦言结果出乎自己的意料：“加拿大人对医疗保健系统的失望情绪已经在蔓延。”
加拿大人不担心质量，更担心是否及时
在比较深入的民意调查中，益普索发现加拿大人普遍诟病的并不是医疗质量，虽然加拿大家庭医生的水平被人诟病，但大型医疗机构的医治水平至少在全球属于第一梯队。
可问题是：你确实能得到很好的治疗，可你永远等不到治疗的时刻，这非常恼人，非常考验人们的耐心。去年12月的时候，小编孩子因为肺炎在温哥华医院急诊室等待20小时的经历，也让小编自己萌生了去美国看病的念头。当时以为自己的想法属于个例，但看到调查结果后，明白这已经是趋势。
尽管美国也存在医疗资源不平衡的问题，偏远城镇的医院较少，但别忘了，加拿大几乎所有大城市都有一座具有一定规模的美国“邻居”城市，比如温哥华人会选择去西雅图看病，这不是问题。
卫生部长：请对我们保持信心
在这份调查结果公布后，各大媒体迅速进行了报道，这让加拿大联邦政府感到难堪。在周一的媒体会议上，卫生部部长霍兰德直言：“去美国看病不是最好的答案，因为你要付出更高昂的代价。”
“加拿大人需要保持耐心，相信医院的判断是正确的” —— 霍兰德认为，如果你的手术被排在了6个月之后，说明你的情况确实不是很严重，而不是医院在故意刁难你。如果你选择赌气去美国，动辄花费几千甚至几万及时治好自己的病，这只是图一时之快，因为随后你会发现这个决定给自己带来的巨大的经济负担。
霍兰德同时表示：“我知道加拿大看病的效率不尽如人意，我们正在确保努力改善这些问题，比如增派更多的人力。”
话虽如此，但民众显然是不买账的。别的不说，就说说加拿大在急诊室里等待看病等到死的病人，数量还少吗？隔三差五就能看到媒体报道。
一味砸钱，不是解决办法
联邦政府一直在强调已经为医疗保健提供更多资金，比如2023年2月份，联邦政府向各省提供了为期10年、价值1961亿的医疗协议资金，用来改善医疗问题。但在益普索公共事务副总裁Sean Simpson看来，一味砸钱并不是解决办法。因为钱要花在刀刃上，而不是漫无目的地去砸、去“填鸭”。
在民调中，超六成的加拿大受访者表示“这些资金对我们求医没有任何帮助，不知道花到哪里去了”。在Sean Simpson看来， 资金应该更有针对性，比如专门用来减少急诊室等待时间。
如果在加拿大也推广收费式的私人医疗？63%的受访者表示支持，其中安大略省的支持率最高。加拿大不可能从全民免费医疗转变为私人医疗保健占主导？如果看病难的趋势持续，未来就不好说了。
最后，大家可能存在的一个疑问是：去美国看病，如果真的能得到及时的医治，值得去吗？要花多少钱？
首先，如果你得的是重病，那么加拿大肯定会让你及时医治，毕竟优先级很高，不用去美国承担天价费用。更多的人去美国是治疗“没有生命危险，却很让自己受困”的病症。
费用不能一概而论，但网友分享的一些可以做参考：拍片费用普遍在500~1000美元之间，对于肺炎等疾病的治疗费用在1000美元左右；加上来回的路费住宿费，总之四位数肯定是要支付的。
到底是去支付这笔钱，还是在加拿大医院忍着痛苦耐心等待？全看你的忍耐力，以及财力了！
信息来源：Daily Hive
Would you cross the border for health care? 42% Canadians say yes in poll
https://globalnews.ca/news/10322678/health-care-canada-us-ipsos-poll/
By Katie Dangerfield Global News March 4, 2024
Amid Canada’s ongoing battle with prolonged emergency room wait times and staffing challenges, a new poll finds that many are willing to journey southward in pursuit of timely health care, even if it means paying out of pocket.
The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News found that 42 per cent of respondents would go to the United States and personally pay for more routine health care if needed. That is up 10 percentage points compared with January 2023.
And 38 per cent of respondents said they would travel to the U.S. and personally pay for emergency care (up nine points from a year ago).
“I think the increase is happening because of the increasing level of frustration that Canadians have in the health-care system,” Sean Simpson, vice-president of Ipsos Public Affairs, told Global News.
“It’s not the quality of care that that people are upset about, it is the timely access to care, meaning wait times in emergency rooms, wait times to see specialists, to get appointments, for screening. As a result, we have a significant chunk of the population say if they can get that service elsewhere, such as the United States, they may consider doing so.”
The Ipsos polling comes as provinces continue to struggle with shortages of family physicians, escalating wait times for surgeries and escalation of emergency room backlogs.
Speaking at a media conference Monday, Health Minister Mark Holland was questioned about Canadians’ inclination to seek medical treatment in the U.S. He responded that “unequivocally that private care is not the answer.”
He argued that most of the waiting that is happening is for either elective procedures or for non-emergency situations, and urged Canadians “to be patient.”
“I know that’s hard, but that but that we are working on making sure we get through these health workforce issues.”
'More money isn't the solution'
A significant portion of the health-care pressure stems from the remnants of the pandemic, Simpson said.
“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen the health-care system was in many respects, holding on by a thread. And that thread is continuing to unravel,” he said.
As a result of this, in February 2023, the federal government offered the provinces and territories a health funding deal worth $196.1 billion over 10 years, including $46.2 billion in new money.
As of Monday, all provinces and territories have agreed to the health accord in principle except for Quebec.
Last month, Ontario was the latest province to sign a $3.1-billion health-care funding deal that will see the province hire more health-care workers, deal with surgical backlogs and upgrade to a digital data system.
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When it comes to this funding, Canadians have plenty of opinions, according to the Ipsos poll.
More than four in 10 respondents believe provinces should get more health-care dollars from the federal government, and they should decide how to spend this money. Those in Quebec were more likely to agree (53 per cent) compared with people living in Ontario (37 per cent).
Additionally, 58 per cent of respondents suggested that provinces ought to present a detailed plan to the federal government outlining their strategies for improving health-care delivery in exchange for increased funding.
“Canadians increasingly believe that more money simply isn’t the solution,” Simpson said. “We’ve been throwing more money at the health-care system … and yet Canadians aren’t receiving any improvement as a result of those investments.”
Many Canadians believe that provinces should exercise more targeted control over funds, Simpson said, allocating them to specific functions like reducing emergency room wait times and addressing surgery backlogs.
However, he emphasized the funding shouldn’t simply be a “blank cheque,” as Canadians believe that solution hasn’t been working so far.
“There needs to be accountability, there needs to be transparency. We need to know where the money is going, and we need to be able to measure the progress that that money is having in improving the system,” he stressed.
The rise of private health care
The Ipsos poll also examined Canadians’ attitudes towards the privatization of health care, a concept that Ontario, has been increasingly exploring.
In the poll, 63 per cent of respondents said they would support private health care for those who can afford it. And 60 per cent said they would support private delivery of publicly funded health services.
Ontario is planning to expand the private delivery of public health care by funding clinics to perform more cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans, colonoscopies, hip and knee replacements and other procedures in an attempt to ease pressures on the hospital system.
“We’re starting to see, over time, increased acceptance of private solutions entering the health-care system,” Simpson explained. “Will Canadians support a full-fledged transition to private health care? No. But do they support publicly funded private delivery of certain services? Absolutely.”
If the goal of adding private health care is to alleviate some of the pressure from the health system overall, Simpson said he believes more Canadians will be receptive to the idea.
Many Canadians are also optimistic about the increasing adoption of virtual care, a trend that has accelerated since the onset of the pandemic.
The poll found a strong majority of Canadians (79 per cent) would support the expansion of virtual care for services provided by a family doctor.
“The pandemic changed a lot and many of us got used to consulting our health-care professionals through Zoom or on the phone,” Simpson noted.
“I think there’s just a general appreciation that it increases accessibility for many people, as perhaps doctors can see more patients that way. So there’s a growing, acceptance and a growing desire, in fact, for more virtual health care solutions.”
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between Feb. 16 and 20, 2024, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18-plus was interviewed. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18-plus been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.
