A tricky operation: Finding a place for private health insurance in a public system

Posted on December 3, 2019 in Health Policy Context

Source: — Authors:

TheGlobeandMail.com – Opinion

Canadians are effectively prohibited from buying private medical insurance or paying out-of-pocket for surgical and hospital services that are deemed “medically necessary.” As a result, there are no private, for-profit hospitals and only a few private surgical facilities in the country

In Australia, on the other hand, almost half the population has private hospital insurance and there are programs in place to encourage them to do so. Private hospitals have been commonplace for decades, and patients with private coverage can even get more extensive and faster care in public facilities.

 

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One Response to “A tricky operation: Finding a place for private health insurance in a public system”

  1. Sandra Macpherson says:

    Private health insurance already plays a larger role in Canada than in most wealthy OECD countries, though it’s limited to an ancillary role in filling gaps in public coverage.

    Duplicate (parallel) private heath insurance won’t reduce public sector wait times. Surgical wait times are longer in Autralia than in Canada.

    https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/international-comparisons/international-health-data-comparisons-2018/contents/waiting-times-for-elective-surgery

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