People opposed to private health-care option in Ontario, poll shows
- Ashley Newport
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
By Ashley Newport, Lead Editor at INsauga.com
Published January 20, 2026 at 4:22 pm
While health care can be–and is–delivered privately, publicly or through a two-tier system that utilizes both models, a recent poll of INsauga.com’s readers suggests that, despite challenges with Canada’s universal health care system, people aren’t ready to embrace private options.
According to an informal online poll, 65 per cent of voters said they would not support more private health care options in Ontario, twice the number of respondents (34 per cent) who indicated they’re open to more private options that might reduce wait times.
The poll received over 4,000 votes.
Ontario has a universal health care system funded through taxes, meaning that while health care is not “free” per se, residents of Canada’s provinces and territories do not pay out of pocket for routine or emergency medical care (although fees for prescription medicines are common, with private insurance available to offset any medication costs).
Generally speaking, Ontario residents can access medically necessary hospital, physician and some surgical-dental services without being charged, with the definition of “medically necessary” being set by their province or territory of residence. While health care is a shared federal and provincial/territorial responsibility, the lower-tier governments are responsible for delivering medical services and regulating health care providers such as doctors and nurses.
While people have debated the benefits and detriments of a mixed public/private health care system in Ontario (such systems are in place in peer countries such as Australia, Ireland and multiple EU nations), the conversation has come into sharper focus since the COVID-19 pandemic, as the province spent months at a time in lockdown due to a vulnerable health care system that could not cope with the influx of seriously ill patients.
