Conundrum: Canadian Health Care

Next time you hear somebody praise the Canadian health care system, ask them how, exactly, do they know? A paper released recently reveals that perhaps nobody knows what the heck is going on up there. The Canadian Health Care Consensus Group's paper, with the humorous title of "Knowable known unknowns of Canadian health care," states: In its 2007 report, the Health Council tells us that we don’t have enough information to track changes to the health care system, either in terms of specific access to care issues like waiting times, or in terms of broader issues, like whether the provinces have spent targeted federal monies on those things on which they were supposed to have been spent. As Council chair Jeanne Besner puts it, "governments simply do not collect or do not provide the data that Canadians need to properly evaluate progress. The information made available is often inconsistent, incomplete, and cannot be compared across jurisdictions." FULL REPORT (PDF)... Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association, told an audience at the CMA's annual meeting recently that although Canada's health care system was designed to help the underprivileged, the system is failing to do so because it has not adapted to the times; the 270 delegates applauded, according to a report in TheStar.com (Toronto). Dr. Day has promised to explore the option of privatizing Canadian health care. RELATED: Canadian Health Care Truth From A Canadian Private health care pushed by CMA head Canada's 'wait care' In Canada, government must ration treatment to hold down costs