Canadians are worried that health care costs are growing out of control, and many would be open to such controversial measures as fees for doctors' visits to help curb those costs, a new Ipsos-Reid poll has found.

The poll also found that two in three Canadians would accept changes that would allow them to buy health care insurance for treatment in private facilities.

The survey was commissioned for the Munk Debates, which are taking place Monday night in Toronto. The poll found that 64 per cent of respondents believe a situation in which health-care costs account for 70 to 80 per cent of provincial budgets is "real and could occur."

Conversely, one in three believe that studies which suggest health care costs could escalate to such levels are just "alarmist speculation."

Almost half (44 per cent) would be "willing to accept" a system, such as the one recently tabled in Quebec's 2010-11 budget, where a flat $25 fee is levied for each doctor visit in an attempt to deter overuse. (Low-income patients would be exempt.) Slightly more (56 per cent) opposed such an idea.

Two in three (64 per cent) would be "willing to accept" (18 per cent definitely/46 per cent probably) a plan that would "allow people to purchase private healthcare insurance to receive treatment in private facilities not funded by government tax dollars." Conversely, one in three (36 per cent) would be "not willing to accept such a system."

As for what the future holds, a majority (56 per cent) of Canadians think that the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems will be more similar to each other in 20 years than they are today. However, they don't agree on which system will prevail.

One in three thinks the "U.S. healthcare system will likely look a lot like our Canadian healthcare system today," while 21 per cent believe that "Canada's healthcare system will likely look a lot like the U.S. health care system does today."

On the other hand, four in ten (44 per cent) believe that the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems will still be very different in terms of access, delivery and payment systems.

Still, 85 per cent of Canadians say that in 20 years, Canada will have the better health care system, where if someone got sick they would most likely want to be in Canada.

The Ipsos-Reid poll interviewed 1,019 adults online between May 31 and June 3. The results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Monday night's Munk Debates will pit two sides in the debate about where it's better to get sick: the U.S. or Canada.

The panel features former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and president of the University Health Network Robert Bell on the pro-Canada side, and former U.S. Senate majority leader William Frist with physician David Gratzer will argue the pro-U.S. side.