Canadians lost a combined $1.1 billion, or an average of $1,202 per patient, as a result of lengthy waits for medically necessary health care in 2013. That is the finding of a new study released by the Fraser Institute. The study calculated the average value of time lost during the work week for each of the estimated 928,000 patients waiting for surgery in Canada last year. When calculations include hours outside the work week, the estimated cost of waiting jumps to $3.4 billion, or an average of $3,681 per patient.
Among the provinces, residents of Saskatchewan faced the highest private cost of waiting per patient ($2,022), followed by Manitoba ($1,977) and Nova Scotia ($1,732). Patients in Ontario endured the lowest private cost of waiting ($867), followed by Quebec ($1,079) and British Columbia ($1,191).