Data finds 53% oppose Alberta's Bill 11 once respondents learn what it does
A majority of Canadians oppose Alberta's Bill 11 once they are told what the legislation does, and only one in nine supports buying private insurance for medically necessary care.
Fifty-three percent of respondents oppose the law while roughly one-third support it, according to a national survey conducted by Abacus Data and commissioned by the Canadian Health Coalition.
Those who strongly oppose Bill 11 outnumber strong supporters by four to one.
Eleven percent of respondents favour allowing Canadians to purchase private insurance to access medically necessary services outside the public system while 49 percent want that care to remain publicly funded and available at no cost to the patient.
Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), came into force on December 18, 2025, and creates a category of physician able to work in the public system and the private-pay market at the same time, CBC News reported.
The Alberta government has argued the dual practice model will ease pressure on the public system and shorten wait times, according to CBC News.
Eighty-three percent of respondents are concerned about the additional cost of private insurance, Abacus Data reported, while 85 percent cite higher health care costs for patients and 83 percent cite unequal access based on income.
More than eight in ten are also concerned about longer public-system wait times, weaker public services, and for-profit companies earning money from health care.
Among Conservative supporters, 81 percent are concerned about higher patient costs, 80 percent about private insurance costs, 79 percent about longer public wait times, and 76 percent about unequal access based on income, the survey found.
Canadians are "deeply frustrated with the health care system," said Abacus Data chief executive officer David Coletto.
He said the frustration does not mean they want to abandon the principles behind it.
Eighty-five percent of respondents say universal health care based on need rather than income is a core Canadian value, and 80 percent believe the public system can meet Canadians' needs with more government investment.
Seventy percent of respondents say "US-style health care" sounds like a concern, Abacus Data found, while 61 percent react negatively to "for-profit health care" and 59 percent say the same of "private-pay health care."
Among Canadians aged 60 and older, those figures rise to 84 percent, 77 percent, and 71 percent.
Ninety-one percent find it convincing that health care could become another expense for households already managing housing, grocery, and other everyday costs, including 86 percent of Conservative supporters.
Coletto said the debate will turn less on public versus private delivery than on "a practical question: will these changes make it easier for ordinary people to get care."
Seventy-four percent of Canadians outside Alberta are concerned similar policies could be adopted in their province, rising to 81 percent in Ontario.
Within Alberta, 76 percent expect Bill 11 to remain in place and expand over time.
Fifty-three percent of respondents want the federal government to do more to protect public health care, while 12 percent say provinces should make these decisions without federal involvement.
Separate provisions of Bill 11 make private plans the first payer for drug claims currently covered by government programs and bar employers from terminating active health coverage on the basis of age, with those changes taking effect October 1, Benefits and Pensions Monitor reported in August.
Jeannette Makad, associate vice president of benefits enablement and insights at NFP, cited by BPM that many plan sponsors were unaware the legislation had passed.
