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Electronic Letters to:

Gerard F. Anderson, Peter S. Hussey, Bianca K. Frogner, and Hugh R. Waters Health Spending In The United States And The Rest Of The Industrialized World Health Affairs, July/August 2005; 24(4): 903-914. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] [Reprints & Permissions]

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Electronic letters published:

Better Data on Canada

Steve Buick, M.Phil.   ( 22 July 2005 )

Better Data on Canada 22 July 2005
Steve Buick, M.Phil., Policy Advisor Capital Health, Edmonton, Alberta Send letter to journal: Re: Better Data on Canada sbuick{at}cha.ab.ca Steve Buick, M.Phil.	In their excellent article, Anderson et al cite a survey claiming that 1/4 to 1/3 of Canadians report waiting longer than 4 months for nonemergency surgery. That's hard to believe. In 2003, only 17.4% of Canadians told Statistics Canada that they waited longer than THREE months for nonemergency surgery. Their median wait was 4.3 weeks. That's not bad, notwithstanding the constant wailing that the system is in "crisis;" and we've increased throughput much faster than population growth in the past two years, so access should be improving. The reality is that the advantages of the U.S. system for the average citizen are slimmer than even its most candid critics realize.