IMO, when it comes to Health Care, a lot of Canadians suffer from False Dichotomy Disease. There seems to be this ridiculous assumption that there are only two ways of doing health care: OUR way, and the AMERICAN way....and our way is right and good and fair, and the American way is evil and unjust and don't talk to me about it.
The Canadian health care system is built on the principle of Universality. The US system is not. So comparing the two is kind of silly. How about instead we compare Canada to other countries that have health care systems which also adhere to the principle of universal access:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
It bothers me that so many people think that as long as we're better than the Americans when it comes to health outcomes, then everything is peachy. Problem is, all 29 countries that rank higher on the WHO list than Canada, ALL are based on the notion of universal access, and ALL have a public health system, supplemented by private health options. Canada, Cuba, and North Korea are the only three countries in the world with a complete government monopoly on health care.
I can spend my money on darn-near whatever I want in this country....I can buy snowmobiles, or Flames tickets, or cigarettes that make me sick...but I can't - by law - spend my own money on health insurance for myself and my family. Seems odd to me.
I'm not advocating for the US system...God knows its got a lot of ugly problems. But saying we're not going to touch Canadian health care because we don't want to "Americanize" our system is a purely political argument - one that holds no water when it comes to improving access and addressing patient needs.