HEALTHCARE IN CANADA

With a national sample of 1500 one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within 1772.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be much larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

One-in-four (25%) Canadians rate the overall healthcare system and the quality of its services as "excellent" (7%) or "very good" (19%). This marks little change from a poll conducted in January 1999, where 24 percent of Canadians rated the healthcare system as "excellent" (7%) or "very good" (17%), and is distant from opinions held in 1991 when more than twice as many (61%) Canadians rated their healthcare system and the quality of its services as "excellent" (26%) or "very good" (35%).

Eight-in-ten (78%) Canadians agree that the healthcare system in their province is currently in a crisis. However, when asked about their confidence in service delivery, seven-in-ten (71%) Canadians "somewhat/strongly agree" that they are confident that if they had a serious medical problem, they would get the healthcare services they need.

These are the findings of an Angus Reid Group poll conducted between January 13th and January 20th 2000. The poll includes a randomly selected sample of 1,500 Canadians and has an associated margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Eight in ten (78%) Canadians say that the healthcare system in their province is currently in a crisis

Eight in ten (78%) Canadians agree that the healthcare system in their province is currently in a crisis. More than half (53%) "strongly agree" that their province's healthcare system is in a crisis and another quarter (26%) "somewhat agree". Of those who do not agree that their province's healthcare system is currently in a crisis (21%), more are likely to "somewhat disagree" (15%) than "strongly disagree" (6%).

• Females (82%) are more likely than males (74%) to agree that their province's healthcare system is in a crisis.
• Regionally, residents in Quebec (90%) and British Columbia (84%) are more likely than those in other provinces to agree that their healthcare system is in a crisis.

However, seven in ten (71%) Canadians are confident that if they had a serious medical problem they would get the healthcare services they need.

When asked whether they were confident that they would receive necessary healthcare services if they had a serious medical problem, seven in ten (71%) "agree" they would get the healthcare services they need. Four in ten (41%) "somewhat agree" that they would get necessary healthcare services, and nearly one-third (31%) "strongly agree". This marks a slight increase from last year when two-thirds (65%) agreed they were confident that they would receive the healthcare services they needed in the event of a serious medical problem. Of those who currently are not confident that they would get the healthcare services they need (28%), 15 percent "somewhat disagree" and 13 percent "strongly disagree".

• Those in BC (60%) are less likely than those in other provinces to agree they are confident that they would receive the medical services they need if they had a serious medical problem.
• Males (75%) are more likely than females (68%) to agree that they are confident they would receive the healthcare services they need if they had a serious medical problem.

One in four (25%) Canadians offer high ratings to Canada's Healthcare system & quality of services

One in four Canadians (25%) give overall high ratings to their healthcare system and the quality of its medical services. One in ten (7%) currently rate it as "excellent" and one in five (19%) consider the system "very good". This marks little change from a poll conducted in January 1999, where 24 percent of Canadians rated the healthcare system as "excellent" (7%) or "very good" (17%). In 1991, more than twice as many (61%) Canadians rated their healthcare system and the quality of its services as "excellent" or "very good".

A majority (60%) of respondents currently give Canada's healthcare system and the quality of its medical services moderate ratings, with a plurality (37%) rating the system as "good" and almost one-quarter (23%) rating it as "only fair". Of those who hold less positive opinions (14%), one in ten (9%) rate the system "poor" and 5 percent (5%) rate it "very poor".

• Males (29%) are more likely than females (22%) to describe the healthcare system and the quality of its medical services as "excellent" or "very good".
• Those with University level education are more likely (33%) to rate the healthcare system and the quality of its medical services as "very good" or "excellent".

The current results are also consistent with the results of a poll the Angus Reid Group conducted with 1,000 Americans in January, 2000. In rating their system of healthcare, which unlike Canada's is not universal in nature, slightly more than one-quarter (27%) of Americans consider their healthcare system and the quality of its services as "excellent" (8%) or "very good" (19%).

Four in ten (38%) Canadians say that their provincial government has a good plan for managing their province's healthcare system

Four in ten Canadians (38%) agree that their provincial government has a good plan for managing their province's healthcare system. Of those who subscribe to this opinion, most (28%) "somewhat agree" rather than "strongly agree" (10%). The remainder of most Canadians (60%) do not agree that their provincial government has a good plan for managing their healthcare system. Over one-third (36%) "strongly disagree" that their provincial government has a good plan for managing the province's healthcare system, and one-quarter (24%) "somewhat disagree".

• Respondents in BC (76%) are more likely than those in other provinces to disagree that their provincial government has a good plan to manage their healthcare system.

  And, of those Canadians who have been admitted to a hospital, or had a member of their immediate family admitted into a hospital for at least one night over the past two years (52%), eight in ten (81%) say they are satisfied overall with their stay.

Half (52%) of Canadians indicate that they have been admitted to a hospital or had a member of their immediate family admitted to a hospital for at least one night within the past two years. Of this group, eight in ten (81%) say that they are satisfied overall with their/their family member's stay; most (44%) are "very satisfied" and more than one-third (36%) are "somewhat satisfied". Of those who are not satisfied overall with their/their family member's stay (18%), one in ten (10%) are "not very satisfied" and 7 percent are "not at all satisfied".

• Males (84%) are more likely than females (77%) to say they are satisfied overall with their/their family member's hospital stay.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900