STEPHENSON: Canada’s women are carrying the load. Our health system should carry its share

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As a member of the sandwich generation, I’m raising young children while caring for aging family members. I live in the gap between what the health system promises and what it delivers.

Even with a strong support network, I’m the one scheduling referrals, booking appointments and coordinating care for my family, often at the expense of my own health. The load is constant and I’m far from alone.

Maple’s 2025 Women’s Health Report found that 76% of women experienced worsening symptoms while waiting for care. For women who act as caregivers, 31% said they’ve delayed their own care because they were prioritizing someone else’s.

For younger women, the impact is especially stark. Sixty-two per cent of women aged 18 to 34 reported delaying or skipping care last year. These are not outliers. They’re symptoms of a system struggling to meet the demands of modern life.

The problem isn’t just operational. It’s structural.

The Canada Health Act, passed in 1984, enshrined publicly funded, physician-delivered, hospital-based care as the foundation of our system. That vision made sense at the time. But in 1984, the most advanced technology in most homes was a landline.

Today, we use smartphones to manage nearly every part of our lives, but we still access health care through a system built for a different era. This outdated framework no longer serves women who are balancing multiple responsibilities in a digital, fast-paced world.

Some governments are taking steps to modernize how care is delivered, and those efforts deserve recognition. Virtual care is a proven solution, but it’s still the exception, not the norm. In most provinces, there is no structured approach to publicly covered virtual care. Yet when integrated into the public system, it can reduce pressure on emergency departments and improve timely access. In Nova Scotia, where virtual care is embedded in the provincial model, emergency room visits dropped by 10% following the launch of VirtualCareNS.

Still, a gap remains between the care people need and the care they can access.

Women are more likely to live with chronic conditions, coordinate care for others and juggle health responsibilities alongside paid work. Yet they face long wait times, misdiagnoses and dismissal. More than half — 55% — say their health concerns have been dismissed. The rates are even higher for Indigenous and racialized women, according to research from Women’s College Hospital and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In the meantime, employers have stepped in. More than 10 million Canadians now rely on employer-provided health services to access timely care, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Virtual care does not replace in-person medicine. It complements it. For women managing complex schedules, caregiving demands and their own health needs, it can be a lifeline. Whether it’s a postpartum check-in, a consultation about perimenopause or a late-night concern about a child’s symptoms, virtual care offers earlier access and proactive support for women and those they care for.

Canada’s health-care principles of equity and universality remain foundational. But how we deliver care must evolve to match the realities of Canadians’ lives. That means updating outdated policies, investing in new care models and designing systems that work for patients, not just providers.

We can’t continue to expect women to hold the system together while being underserved by it. Closing the women’s health gap isn’t just a moral imperative. It’s a practical one. When women have timely, appropriate access to care, families, communities and economies all benefit.

It’s time for a health-care system that works for everyone.

— Amii Stephenson is a Vice President at Maple, leading health system partnerships to improve health-care accessibility for Canadians.