Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index 2008 Canada - an example how healthcare should not be organized

Canada - an example how healthcare should not be organized

Canada ranks 23rd for consumer friendliness in healthcare in the Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index 2008 report. This is the first time that Canada is included in the comprehensive benchmarking among 29 national European healthcare systems that for Europe was published 1st of October 2007 by the Swedish Health Consumer Powerhouse and the Canadian Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

"The Euro Canada Health Consumer Index shows that Canada do a mediocre job of fulfilling our commitment to excellent and accessible healthcare," Rebecca Wahlberg the reports lead researcher said. "The Austrians, the French, and the Dutch enjoy better and more accessible healthcare than we do, and at a lower per capita cost. There is no reason why Canada cannot improve and reach a similar level."

"The Canadian medical outcomes is ok even if we do not reach the outstanding levels of Sweden.” Wahlberg continues. “It's certainly not news to Canadians that diagnosis and treatment waits in Canada are long. But it is a surprise to see that waits are at the very bottom after average performers like Slovakia and the Czech Republic."

Johan Hjertqvist, President of the Health Consumer Powerhouse, also notes that “A country that has have long waiting times to cancer treatments plus slow deployment speed of new cancer drugs does not provide get really good outcomes in cancer treatments. This is the case for Canada as well as for Denmark, Portugal and Ireland, countries that all should be able to do better.”

“Politicians must start to realise that waiting times need to be cut and novel cancer drugs need to be accessible for patients across Europe as well as Canada. We look forward to the European Union Slovenian Chairmanship initiatives around cancer treatments later this year” Hjertqvist continues.
The Index includes a "Bang for the Buck" metric, which assesses each state's performance in the context of how much is spent on healthcare per capita. Here Canada gets the least value for money of all 30 of the countries analyzed. There is a lot to learn from for example Estonia, France and the Netherlands.

The overall conclusion of the report is that the Beveridge system based health care in the UK and Canada really are not able to compete with the Bismarck inspired countries like Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and France and are in need of serious structural reforms.

About Health Consumer Powerhouse
Health Consumer Powerhouse is the leading European provider of consumer information on health care. The Powerhouse dedicate ideas and resources to the development of consumer empowerment action. We analyse health care and compare the outcomes, designing consumer information tools like health care system and Illnesses indexes, consumer press and education. We are a registered Swedish entity.

About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent think tank with offices in Winnipeg and Regina. Its mission is to explore options for the future by undertaking research and education that supports economic growth and opportunity.

För ytterligare information, kontakta Director European Affairs
Kajsa Wilhelmsson, +32-496 23 55 30, kajsa.wilhelmsson
@healthpowerhouse.com

Ladda ner rapporten här
http://www.healthpowerhouse.se/hcp/apps/hcp/docs/ECHCI2008080121.pdf

Kontaktpersoner
För ytterligare information, kontakta:

Director European Affairs Kajsa Wilhelmsson,
+32-496 23 55 30,
kajsa.wilhelmsson
@healthpowerhouse.com