To Deal With Rising Costs of Healthcare,
Canadians Prefer Finding Efficiencies (61%)
Over Investing More Tax Dollars (28%) Or Providing Greater Opportunities To Pay Out-Of-Pocket (11%)

Toronto, ON - Provincial governments across the country are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of healthcare, and while Canadians likely want to continue to see improvements to the access and quality of care, they are also likely loathe to increases in the level of taxation they pay.

Thinking about ways to address this issue without increasing taxes, given three options, most (61%) Canadians believe the best direction for Canada's healthcare system would be to `focus on finding more efficient ways to deliver healthcare without putting any more tax dollars into the system'. Alternatively, three in ten (28%) Canadians would like to see governments `put more public tax dollars into the existing health system', a method that would likely see cuts in spending in other government departments and services.

Just one in ten (11%) Canadians, however, believe the best direction would be to provide `more opportunities for Canadians to pay for health services out of their own pockets', effectively creating a network of private healthcare facilities for the use of those who wish to pay for those services. While Canadians clearly prefer finding efficiencies in the current system to radically changing it or increasing the proportion of government budgets allocated to health spending, some are more adamant about this direction that others.

Findings Efficiencies

• Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (73%) are the most likely to believe the best direction is to find efficiencies in the current system, followed by those living in Ontario (65%), British Columbia (63%), Atlantic Canada (60%), Alberta (58%) and Quebec (51%).
• Those aged 55 and older are most likely to favour this approach (64%), followed by Canadians aged 35 to 54 (60%) or 18 to 34 (57%).

Investing More Money in Healthcare

• Interestingly, Albertans (34%) are the most likely to want to invest more money in healthcare, followed by those living in British Columbia (31%), Quebec (31%), Atlantic Canada (31%) and Ontario (25%). Significantly fewer residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (15%) feel this is the best way forward.
• Middle-aged (30%) and younger (29%) Canadians are slightly more likely than older (24%) Canadians to believe this is the best way to deal with the costs of rising healthcare without increasing taxes.

Providing Opportunities To Pay Out-of-Pocket

• Quebecers (19%) are the most likely to say they'd favour providing more opportunities to pay for health services which would be paid for out of pocket by those who use the service, while those living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (12%), Ontario (10%), Alberta (8%), Atlantic Canada (8%) and British Columbia (6%) are less amendable to the idea.
• Interestingly, men (14%) are more likely than women (8%) to think that this is the best way forward.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between August 10 and 16 2010, on behalf of Canada.com. For this survey, a sample of 1,015 adults from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in Canada been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2002
[email protected]

About Ipsos Reid

Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader, the country's leading provider of public opinion research, and research partner for loyalty and forecasting and modelling insights. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos Reid employs more than 600 research professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in the country, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and online panels. Ipsos Reid's marketing research and public affairs practices offer the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, Ipsos Reid offers syndicated information or custom solutions across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, retail, and technology & telecommunications. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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