Just how good is our health care?

I love bulletins from Canstats. You can sign up for them on their web page. This article looks at how Canada compares in health-care to other countries with universal access.

The comparative evidence is that the Canadian health care model is inferior to others that are in place in the OECD. It produces inferior age-adjusted access to physicians and technology, produces longer waiting times, is less successful in preventing deaths from preventable causes, and costs more than any of the other systems that have comparable objectives. The models that produce superior results and cost less than Canada’s monopoly-insurer, monopoly-provider system have: user fees; alternative, comprehensive, private insurance; and private hospitals that compete for patient demand. The overwhelming evidence is that, in comparative terms, Canada’s system of health care delivery under-performs, and needs to emulate the more successful ‘universal access’ models found elsewhere in the developed world.

Read the whole article - and look at the data.