New report just shredded every myth claiming Canadian medicare is superior — or fair

...the prestigious Commonwealth Fund in the U.S. released its most recent update comparing health-care systems in the rich industrialized world. This showed our health-care system, run virtually in its entirety by these effective Canadian public servants, not just below average, but at the bottom of the heap, barely outperforming France and our health-care system’s arch-enemy, the U.S.

On measure after measure the data belie the boasts that medicare apologists tout as proof we have the best system in the world. When measuring the equity of our system against the others, we come a pitiful ninth out of 11, despite the fact that “fairness” is the argument most frequently trotted out to defend the status quo. Turns out Canadian health care isn’t all that fair.

Ditto for health-care outcomes. Despite being a fairly high spender, we are not able to turn that money into better outcomes for Canadians. Again, we rank ninth out of 11.

But in what must be the bitterest pill, we come 10th in access. That means that among the 11 systems studied, every one of them gives better access to health-care services except one: the United States. Gives a whole new meaning to the sentiment that we don’t want American-style health care here, doesn’t it? Of course we don’t, but it is a wonder why people think Canadian-style care is somehow overwhelmingly superior. It is better than the U.S., but then why compare yourself to those doing worse than you? Surely we should aspire to better...