Canada’s Health Care Crisis: How Socialized Medicine Is Killing People in Line

A System Built on Promises, Delivered Through Delays

Canada’s single-payer health care system is often praised as a compassionate model of universal coverage. Every citizen is guaranteed access to doctor visits and hospital care without having to pay at the point of service. But the truth behind this system tells a very different story, one defined not by equality, but by delays, rationing, and even death.

The system is government-run and paid for through high taxes. Each province operates its own services under national guidelines. Care is not bought with money at the doctor’s office. Instead, the price is paid in wait times, and for some, that delay proves fatal. As one policy researcher described it, “Canada’s publicly provided health care system actually requires rationing in order to contain costs.”

Rationing by Time, Not Dollars

Because services are “free,” patients seek care often. But the supply of care – doctors, imaging machines, hospital beds – is limited. This creates a supply-demand gap that the government controls not by charging money, but by forcing patients to wait. These wait times can be months or years long.

Claude Castonguay, who served as Quebec’s Minister of Health and helped build the system, admitted this problem in his autobiography. He explained that ending rationing “would imply significantly higher costs,” and that “politicians are generally unwilling to justify [those costs] through the necessary tax increases.”

According to data from the Fraser Institute, in 1993 the median wait time from referral by a general practitioner to treatment was under 12 weeks. By 2024, wait times exceeded 30 weeks in almost every province. In New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the median wait had reached over 69 weeks. For neurosurgery, patients across all provinces waited more than 46 weeks on average.

Dying While Waiting

The real cost of these delays is not just inconvenience. It is human life.

SecondStreet.org, a public policy think tank, found that at least 15,474 Canadians died between April 2023 and March 2024 while waiting for surgery or diagnostic scans. The group warned that this number is likely far below the true total, since several provinces – like Quebec, Alberta, and Newfoundland – do not track these deaths.

Colin Craig, president of SecondStreet, said, “If the findings from the provinces that did give us data are extrapolated across provinces that didn’t, the total rises to closer to 28,000 people.” He added, “Thousands of Canadians across the country find themselves on wait lists—in some cases for several years—with too many tragically dying before ever getting treated or even diagnosed.”

In Nova Scotia, government data showed that 50 people died in 2022–2023 while waiting for treatment where the delay may have directly caused their death. Those patients were waiting for surgeries like bowel operations, cancer treatment, and coronary artery bypasses. In 19 of those cases, the patients had waited longer than the medically recommended maximum.

“We’re not aware of any government that really analyzes this data, looks at it and makes changes based on, ‘We’ve got a lot of patients dying while waiting for procedure X,’” said Craig. Instead, wait-list deaths are often logged only when a family member calls to say the patient has passed away.

One study found that every extra week of delay between a general practitioner referral and surgery increased death rates for female patients by 3 per 100,000 people. Researchers estimated the value of a single life lost at $6.5 million Canadian dollars, pointing to the devastating economic and human toll of this system.

Billions Lost in Productivity and Care

In 2008, the Canadian Medical Association estimated that long wait times for just four procedures—joint replacements, cataract surgeries, bypass operations, and MRI scans—cost the economy $14.8 billion in 2007 alone. When researchers added just two more conditions, the total loss rose to over $20 billion.

Another 2023 study calculated the cost in terms of lost wages and leisure time: $10.6 billion, or about $8,730 per patient. These numbers do not account for newer treatments or expensive medications that are often delayed or denied under the current system.

Does the Care Make the Wait Worth It?

Some argue that once patients do receive care, it is worth the wait. But Canada does not perform well in many international comparisons.

Among 30 developed countries, Canada ranks:

• 28th in the number of doctors per capita
• 24th in care beds
• 25th in MRI machines
• 26th in CT scanners

According to one major review, Canada “performed well on five indicators of clinical quality, but its results on the remaining six were rated as either average or poor.” Despite that, Canada was the highest health spender among the countries studied after adjusting for population age.

Harrison Fleming, a policy director with SecondStreet, summed it up: “Canadians pay really high taxes and yet our health care system is failing when compared to better-performing universal systems in Europe.”

Private Options Gaining Ground

As the crisis worsens, Canadian leaders are starting to change course. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a plan to expand private care in the province, aiming to treat over 200,000 patients stuck on waitlists. “There’s only two places in the world that have the health care that we have,” Ford said. “Cuba and North Korea.”

Ford’s plan will move 14,000 cataract surgeries to private clinics and invest $18 million in diagnostic and surgical services. He also wants to increase the number of licensed private facilities.

Critics, particularly public-sector unions, argue that this will lead to a “two-tiered” system that benefits the rich. But as Ford and others have pointed out, wealthy Canadians already bypass the public system. In 2017 alone, Canadians spent $690 million seeking treatment abroad.

Former Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams flew to the United States for heart surgery. “This was my heart, my choice and my health,” he said. “I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.”

Singer Michael Bublé took his young son to Los Angeles for cancer treatment, crediting American doctors for saving his life. Most Canadians do not have the money or fame to do the same.

A Grim Parallel: Euthanasia on the Rise

At the same time that thousands die waiting for treatment, nearly the same number of Canadians are dying through government-assisted euthanasia. In 2023, over 15,000 people were euthanized. Some patients reportedly chose euthanasia because they could not get proper medical care in time.

Hospices that refuse to offer assisted death are being defunded. This has led critics to describe the Canadian system as a “culture of death,” where the solution to suffering is not more treatment, but more death.

A Warning for the U.S.

Sally Pipes, a health policy expert, wrote, “How can progressive Americans advocate for Medicare for All with a straight face when their beau idéal, Canada, is going in the opposite direction?” As Canada begins expanding private care, the U.S. may want to think twice before following Canada’s lead.

The bottom line is clear: Canada’s single-payer system is not just struggling—it is killing. The dream of equal access for all has turned into a nightmare of silent suffering, where patients wait until it is too late. As one Canadian said simply, “The wait is the price.” The question remains, is it worth paying with your life?

NP Editor: Socialist systems always go into the self destruct mode. They never provided what they promise, sprialing downward, and a “black market” of sorts always arises for those who can afford it.