Most Canadians would pay more taxes to fund health care according to a recent Vector poll. Conducted between January 5-18, 2010, the poll reveals 97 per cent of Canadians support more spending in health care with 57 per cent saying they would be willing to pay higher taxes to achieve that goal. Even a majority of Federal Conservative voters – 53 per cent – would be willing to pay more taxes to create better healthcare.
This willingness to spend more may be based on a perception that health care services have been in decline in recent years. Nearly half – 45 per cent – said their local hospital and/or health care facilities have gone down a little or a lot. Health care topped the list of perceived services in decline – the next highest being street and highway repairs at 43 per cent. 22 per cent said their local hospitals had improved.
The Ontario LHINs get failing grades on most activities according to the poll. At least half of the respondents said the LHINs did a not very good or poor job of controlling health care costs while maintaining quality (50%), keeping the public informed about changes to services (50%), or playing a role in reducing wait times (62%). The best results for the LHINs? 34 per cent said the LHIN was doing a good or verygood job of keeping the public fully informed about changes in medical services.
The results are based on 1,107 interviews conducted with adults across Canada.
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