Ep. 522: Canada’s Health Care in Crisis
Guest: Krystle Wittevrongel, Montreal Economic Institute
Canada’s vaunted health care system is in crisis.
According to the “ourCare” national survey, more than 6.5 million people – that’s one in five Canadian adults – do not have access to a family doctor or a nurse practitioner that they can see for regular care. ERs are regularly shut; diagnostic services and surgeries are backlogged, making timely access to health care extremely challenging.
According to a Research Co. poll, “Pessimistic views on health care have taken hold in Canada. The proportion of Canadians who think the system should be completely rebuilt has jumped to 23% in 2024.” Krystale Wittevrongel says, “That’s a startling number. It demonstrates that Canadians believe it is time to drastically change the system.”
“One of the many impediments to the delivery of healthcare,” says Wittervrongel, “is our funding model. Hospitals receive a global budget at the beginning of the fiscal year. That money is fixed based on an expected number of procedures based on historical volumes. This funding model has been replaced in most OECD countries with activity based funding.
We invited Krystle Wittevrongel, the Director of Research at the Montreal Economic Institute, to join me for a Conversation That Matters about healing our ailing health care system.
Want to learn more about our guest?
Check out their profile on our partnered program, Careers That Matter!
