Canada: Difference between revisions

Canada has fourteen single-payer health insurance plans (HIPs) — one for each of the ten provinces and three territories and a 14th plan for government employees. The British Columbia HIP stopped paying for non-therapeutic circumcision in the 1980s. Ontario HIP stopped payment for non-therapeutic circumcision in July 1995; Saskatchewan stopped in 1996. One by one, all other HIPs have stopped paying for non-therapeutic circumcision. In 2006, Manitoba HIP was the last to stop, but only after the wrong boy was circumcised at [http://www.sbgh.mb.ca/ St. Boniface Hospital].<ref name="skeldon2008">{{REFnews

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At the beginning of the 21st Century, only the Manitoba Health Insurance Plan (HIP) still paid for non-therapeutic circumcision, however that was ended in 2006.

In all provinces and territories, only a minority of boys are being circumcised. The incidence of circumcision in Labrador and Newfoundland is reported to be close to zero.<ref>{{REFweb

* The long-term trend in the incidence of circumcision in Canada is down.

* The health insurance plans (HIPs) do not support non-therapeutic circumcision.

* The ratio of intact fathers to circumcised fathers is changing toward more intact fathers and fewer circumcised fathers. Boys who were born after the decline in circumcision started and who are intact are now reaching the age at which they start families and become fathers. Intact men usually do not want any son to be circumcised, so they will usually not have a son circumcised.<ref name="rediger-muller2013" /> This will cause a further decline in the incidence of circumcision.

* The survey found that the incidence of circumcision on Prince Edward Island was 38 percent.  A recent report indicated that non-therapeutic circumcision of boys is no longer available on P.E.I. because no practitioner will perform the non-therapeutic [[amputation]] of part of a boy's penis.<ref>{{REFnews

As of 2022, [[third-party payment]] for non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] has not been available anywhere in Canada since 2006. Moreover, non-therapeutic circumcision is not done in most hospitals,<ref name="jamesloewen2019" /> so parents who want to have a boy circumcised must take the boy to the surgery of a practitioner who specializes in non-therapeutic male circumcision, and furthermore must pay out of pocket. For example, the cost of circumcision of a newborn boy in New Brunswick is C$425 ranging up to C$1500 for a teenager or adult.<ref>{{REFweb

The prevalence of circumcision is higher among older males, but lower among younger males.  As older, mostly circumcised males die and are replaced in the population by younger, mostly intact males, the overall prevalence of circumcised men in Canada is gradually declining. Intact males usually do not want any son to be circumcised,<ref name="brown-brown1987" /> <ref name="rediger-muller2013" /> so the demand for circumcision in Canada is declining.