Key Findings from the June 4th 2012 Poll

CARP members agree that cuts to doctors’ and specialists’ fees are just a drop in the bucket, and will not by themselves solve the health care spending crisis. Nevertheless, they want them to go ahead, and they want the provinces to cooperate in setting national fee schedules for doctors to prevent the kind of ‘jurisdiction-shopping’ some fear might occur as a result of fee cuts.

While members claim to be ‘light’ users of the health care system (up to four times a year), they recognize older patients are not well-served, either by family doctors or by specialists, and this is seen to be a failure in the medical profession itself, led by doctors unwilling to take on senior patients.

The Conservative Party has returned to the lead in CARP voter preference, although the NDP is now firmly in second place, supplanting the Liberals.

Click here to download the full poll report in PDF format

ATTITUDES TO FEE CUTS

The strong majority of CARP members disagree that health care spending can be controlled by cutting fees for family doctors (70%) and specialists (60%).

How much do you agree health care spending can be controlled by freezing or cutting family doctors’ fees?/ How much do you agree health care spending can be controlled by freezing or cutting fees for specialists like radiologists, cardiologists and ophthalmologists?

	GPs	Specialists
AGREE	21%	31%
Agree strongly	3%	6%
Agree	18%	25%
DISAGREE	70%	60%
Disagree	46%	41%
Disagree strongly	24%	19%
DON’T KNOW	10%	9%

Click here to download the full poll report in PDF format

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