More than six million Canadians say they do not have regular access to primary care physicians. It’s a crisis the experts say has caused untold harm and cases of preventable death and disease — and it’s expected to get worse before it gets better.
In Canada’s system of publicly funded health care, family doctors play a crucial gatekeeper role by coordinating care and ensuring access to preventative medicine, drugs, diagnostics and specialists.
Unlike in the U.S. — where some insured people can go directly to specialists and clinics — Canadians must go through family doctors or general practitioners at walk-in clinics if they need a particular kind of
