Canadians are in a primary-care paradox.

About 14 percent of Canadians aged 12 and older—approximately 4.6 million people—did not have a regular health-care provider in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. Even more alarming, about 6.6 million Canadians rely on family doctors aged 65 and over, meaning that even more people could soon find themselves without primary-care access due to future family physician retirements.

Canada has the highest number of general practitioners per capita among comparator countries, yet ranks worst in terms of having a doctor or a regular place for medical care (only 86.2 percent of surveyed Canadians had one in 2023). What is happening?

Several factors are contributing to our current primary-care challenges.

Source Article: The Hub

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