Robotic thoracic surgery in Canada: Are patients willing to pay out of pocket?

Robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RTS) is safe and effective, but is associated with high capital and operating costs that are not reimbursed by the Canadian government. Currently, patients have access to RTS only when it is supported by research or philanthropic funds. In a recent study, we assessed the extent of patient-reported satisfaction with RTS, whether patients would have been willing to pay out of pocket for it, and what factors were associated with patients' willingness to pay. Many patients (290 of 411 [70.56%]) stated that they would have paid the additional $2000 to supplement the government health care coverage to have access to RTS. Factors found to be significantly associated with participants' willingness to pay were an annual income of $60 000 or more (p = 0.034), private insurance coverage (p = 0.007), overall experience with RTS rated as 8 or higher out of 10 (p < 0.001), and overall postoperative postdischarge experience rated as satisfying or very satisfying (p = 0.004).