Willingness to pay to shorten waiting time for cataract surgery.

We interviewed persons who had recently been placed on a public waiting list for cataract surgery in Manitoba, Canada; Barcelona, Spain; and Denmark. The majority of the respondents were unwilling to pay higher taxes to reduce the length of the waiting list or to pay more out of pocket to have the surgery performed earlier in the private sector. Less than 2 percent actually had the surgery done in the private sector. We conclude that in spite of expressed public dissatisfaction with waiting lists in all three sites, a majority of the respondents did not support the actions that could have reduced their own wait.