The Dutch health-care system outperformed Canada’s system on 27 of 39 performance measures.
health-care costs
Last year the province's median wait between referral from a family doctor and receipt of surgery was 52.6 weeks.
The province has some of the highest personal income taxes in North America.
Nova Scotians waited 58.2 weeks (on average) between referral from a GP to receipt of treatment.
The province expects to receive more than $6 billion from Ottawa via the Canada Health Transfer this year.
In Sweden, patients usually pay a nominal fee for family doctor appointments.
The French health-care system features several safety nets to protect vulnerable patients.
Canada ranked last on access to specialist visits in under four weeks.
Last year, Canadians could expect to wait 25.6 weeks from referral by a family physician to elective surgical care.
If the provinces increased provincial spending, they’d either have to raise taxes or run larger budget deficits.