After decades of broken health care promises, Canada’s governments need to prove themselves

The facts speak for themselves. A 2021 Commonwealth Fund study ranked 11 countries’ health care systems based on access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity and health care outcomes; Canada ranked 10th, above only the U.S., which does not have universal care. According to the Fraser Institute’s analysis of OECD data examining 2019, Canada ranks 26th of 28 OECD countries in available physicians, 14th in available nurses and 25th in available acute-care beds per thousand population.

How healthy is the Canadian health-care system?

How is it that Canada has gone from a world leader to a middle- (or maybe even a bottom-) of-the-pack performer?

Ralph Nader: Canada's Health Care System Puts America's to Shame

Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare. No health insurance system is without problems but Canadian-style single-payer— full Medicare for all— is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal. In the early 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson enrolled 20 million elderly Americans into Medicare in six months. There were no websites. They did it with index cards!

What Canada taught Bernie Sanders about health care

On his Canada trip, Sanders seemed to recognize that core to a system like Canada’s is a belief, by the people, that all other people ought to have equitable access to health insurance. Sanders is bullish that this belief exists to a wide extent in the United States too.

Canada comes up short in international survey of family doctors

A new international survey of family doctors gives Canada poor marks, finding patients face longer waits than in nine other industrialized countries, and there is less co-ordination of care and use of electronic records. The study, based on responses from primary-care physicians in 10 countries, shows Canada comes up short on the majority of measures, and also highlights the variation in care levels among provinces.

Canada health report card ranks B.C. 1st, Nunavut last

B.C. gets the highest rating in Canada — an A — because people there have the lowest rate of disease, low obesity rates and the highest level of physical activity. It scored the third-highest rating overall, behind only Switzerland and Sweden.

Canada Letter: Health Care Comparisons and an NYT Offer

The bottom line is that while Canada does have longer wait times compared with other countries, it seems to have made the decision to accept this as a trade-off for significantly reduced spending. We can choose to value different things, but those wait times are most likely an economic decision, not one inherent to single-payer.

Canada's Bloated Health Care System Is Nothing To Brag About

Canada is a great country. Our health care system is anything but. The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked our national health care system at 30th in the world. To put some colour to it, they ranked our system behind those of Colombia and Morocco.

Canadian Health Care Isn't As Good As You Think It Is

Those who suggest changes to the health care system are generally met with cries of "treason" and are invited to move south of the border. The superiority of our model to that of the U.S. has become such a part of our national identity that we've grown reticent to experiment with new ideas. Calls for reform invariably spark fears of a plot to put an end to the free system and make us more like the Americans.

If Universal Health Care Is The Goal, Don't Copy Canada

Discussion of the Canadian model is worthy of inclusion in such a debate, but more in terms of “what to avoid” than as a model for reform. The reality of Canadian health care is that it is comparatively expensive and imposes enormous costs on Canadians in the form of waiting for services, and limited access to physicians and medical technology. This isn’t something any country should consider replicating.

Is Canada the Right Model for a Better U.S. Health Care System?

For many critics of U.S. health care, the Canadian system of universal health care has long been viewed as an alternative, superior model for the U.S. to follow. Canada’s single-payer system is mostly publicly funded, while the U.S. has a multi-payer, heavily private system. While dissatisfaction with the U.S. health care system is widespread among Americans, Canada’s health care system enjoys high levels of satisfaction among its own population. Much of the appeal of the Canadian system comes from the fact that it seems to do more for less.

Mr. Trump, Let’s Examine Canada’s Healthcare Hellscape, Shall We?

Universal medical coverage really has been a disaster for Canadians…so long as you somehow get the entire English speaking world to change the meaning of disaster to “a wild success that benefits pretty much everyone.” In fact, Canadian Healthcare has been so disastrous compared to its American counterpart that we have significantly lower obesity rates, lower infant mortality, and live an average of three years longer–all despite the fact that we eat three times the number of doughnuts. And for all this quality service, Canadians pay ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. No bills. No co-pays. No filing of claims. No medical debt. Nothing.

No, Canadians do not flee en masse for US health care

The most comprehensive look at the issue was published in Health Affairs in 2002. Entitled "Phantoms in the Snow," researchers gathered data on Canadians’ use of the US health care system by surveying US border facilities and America’s top-rated hospitals about how often they see Canadians seeking health care. They found this happened rarely.

No, Canadians do not flee en masse for US health care

This idea is often floated by critics of universal health care on both sides of the border. But the best-available research shows it’s simply not true. Canadians are not fleeing en masse to the US seeking medical care.

ObamaCare, Is There a Fix?

It’s not defunding ObamaCare or granting everyone the current ‘federal worker option’ or even socialized medicine. Just ask our neighbors, the Canadians.

Single-Payer - Good, Bad, and Ugly of the Canadian System

It is unlikely the system will change. Most people who actually vote are happy that major illness is covered and are less concerned about chronic care. Physicians like the simplicity of getting paid and fee-for-service. Most Canadians are content that they may not be the best in the world, but at least they're better than the U.S.

Thank God for Medicare

When you’re chewing life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle - Monty Python

The Best Health Care System in the World: Which One Would You Pick?

To better understand one of the most heated U.S. policy debates, we created a tournament to judge which of these nations has the best health system: Canada, Britain, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia and the U.S.

The Inconvenient Truths About Canadian Health Care

There is little agreement among Canadians on the desired health care goal. Some see it in terms of acute care hospital outcomes; others in how many people are serviced, or how much procedure waiting times are reduced. We need a clear and agreed-upon articulation of the goals.

We're Number Two: Canada Has as Good or Better Health Care than the U.S.

Despite spending half what the U.S. does on health care, Canada doesn't appear to be any worse at looking after the health of its citizens.

What If America Had Canada's Healthcare System?

What if Canada moved here? Specifically, what if its healthcare system were to pack up, migrate southward, and rain its single-payer munificence over America, for a change?

Why Canada Is Able to Do Things Better

In these discussions, Canada’s universal health-care system was often described as a plus. Because Canadian entrepreneurs can quit their day jobs without their spouse losing access to dialysis, or their children losing access to pediatricians, such a system allows business-builders more professional freedom. (Under this system, Canadians tend to live longer than Americans, though they also spend more time, on average, waiting for treatment.)

Why Canadians Are Increasingly Seeking Medical Treatment Abroad

While Americans have been crossing the border for years in search of cheaper medications, it turns out there are a growing number of Canadians seeking medical treatment south of their border, raiding their bank accounts and choosing to pay for treatment instead of being treated through their nationalized health care system.

Yikes: Canada's Healthcare System Has Some Of The Longest Wait Times In The World

It looks as though Canadians have some of the best healthcare in the world--provided they live long enough to actually see a doctor.

I’ll take Canada’s health-care system

Americans can argue about purported high Canadian taxes but Canadians can go to a hospital without fear of not having a chequebook in their pocket. American families have been financially devastated by unexpected high health-care costs. Their health management organizations are a joke and American health insurance companies are constantly under the microscope because of their controversial high premiums and reduction of coverage.

Why Americans Have Been Deceived About Canada's Health Care System

For decades, the health insurance industry has been scaring Americans about Canada's health care system. We hear from a whistleblower about his role in the disinformation campaign.