spark*insights

Over two-thirds of Canadians have now used virtual health care; 54% of Canadians say they would be angry if virtual care is taken out of workplace and group benefit plans

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Oct 03, 2024

As federal and provincial governments continue to look for new ways to address concerns Canadians have with the current healthcare system, policy discussions have turned to the management of access to virtual healthcare options. A recent leaked Health Canada memo suggests the federal government is considering intervening to prevent workplace and group benefit plans from offering virtual care coverage.

spark*insights conducted an online survey of 1,815 adult Canadians to hear how they feel about virtual care and the potential changes to how these services can be accessed.

Here’s what we found:

  • Canadians are much more familiar with virtual care than they were prior to the COVID pandemic. 69% of Canadians now have a personal experience using virtual care, and while young Canadians are more likely to regularly rely on these services, 62% of those over the age of 60 have now used virtual health care at least once.
 
 
  • More exposure to virtual care has led Canadians to attach more importance to these health services. 4-in-5 Canadians now say it is important for virtual care to be covered in their health benefits plan, regardless of whether they expect to need to use it.
 
 
  • When we explored why Canadians feel virtual care is so important, we found Canadians are confident the expanded use of virtual care can be a solution for many of the issues in the healthcare system today, especially challenges around long wait times for surgery, emergency rooms and diagnoses and connecting those without a family doctor to health care.
 
 
  • Turning to the current policy debate, just over half (54%) of Canadians said they would be angry if the federal government intervened with the provinces to stop workplace and group benefits plans from offering virtual care coverage, including at least half of all voters for the three main national parties.
 
 
  • In a scenario where a new government takes power after the next election and faces the same decision the Liberals are making now, Canadians overwhelmingly prefer to see the federal government encourage an increase in the amount of virtual care services offered through benefits plans (88%) over stopping this practice (12%).
  • The group of swing voters currently open to voting for either the Liberals or Conservatives in the next federal election are even more in favour of expanding virtual care with 95% saying they prefer this approach.
 
 

Our Take

Alex Kohut, Senior Director of spark*insights: “COVID has had a massive impact on how Canadians think about virtual health care. What might have been seen as a luxury service by many prior to 2020 is now a service that a majority of Canadians have used and many depend on. Our polling suggests many Canadians have become very attached to these benefits and it may now be politically damaging for any party to implemented changes that are perceived as taking away virtual care coverage from Canadians.”

Findings are drawn from an online survey of 1,815 adult Canadians conducted from August 3 to 7, 2024 on behalf of Dialogue Health Technologies. Results are weighted according to age, gender, region, education and past vote to be representative of the general voting population.

About spark*insights

spark*insights is led by Bruce Anderson, one of Canada’s leading and most experienced public opinion researchers, along with Alex Kohut, former Senior Manager of Research & Advertising in the Office of the Prime Minister. From polling and research to analysis and guidance, we help organizations, uncover the factors driving or influencing public perception to gain valuable insights into the shape and movement of the landscape.

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