On the same morning that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi struck down Wisconsin's infamous union-busting bill on the grounds that it violated the state's Open Meetings Law (PDF of decision, previously), Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed America's first state-level single-payer legislation into law. [more inside]
posted by gerryblog on May 26, 2011 - 94 comments

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams (no stranger to Metafilter) has travelled to an unspecified location in the United States to have heart surgery. [more inside]
posted by Hiker on Feb 7, 2010 - 59 comments

An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
posted by jtron on May 28, 2008 - 22 comments

Mythbusting Canadian Health Care, Part I. Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers. [Via Orcinus.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 13, 2008 - 227 comments

"In 2003, Americans spent an estimated US$5,635 per capita on health care, while Canadians spent US$3,003... Canada’s single-payer system, which relies on not-for-profit delivery, achieves health outcomes that are at least equal to those in the United States at two-thirds the cost." What do wealthy, educated Americans living in Canada think?
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 3, 2007 - 137 comments

Few things are more sacred to Canadians than the nation's medicare system. After years of health spending cutbacks by conservative politicians, debate rages over whether private providers should now be allowed to compete with the public system. In British Columbia, where the government is shovelling tax dollars into the 2010 Olympics, patients are being left to die in emergency rooms and long-term care facilities due to overcrowding and understaffing. Is it too late to save public health care? Should it be saved?
posted by 327.ca on Apr 27, 2006 - 89 comments

A Canadian reporter looks at Texas healthcare.
posted by gimonca on Dec 8, 2003 - 51 comments

Canadian Royal Commission: medicare a 'moral enterprise, not business venture'. After 18 months of talking to Canadians, former premier of Sastatchewan, Roy Romanow, has releases the final report from the royal commission on health care. The word is: public is good, and it's gonna cost us. Also see CBC coverage including video of the release.
posted by stevengarrity on Nov 28, 2002 - 60 comments

Ontarians wait up to 30 weeks for key tests
Waiting lists for common exams to detect major diseases are growing at an alarming and outrageous pace in Ontario, says the National Post. The Waiting lists are longest ever, One million people waiting for medical treatments, A Hostpital with no nurses or beds, and, Medical errors killing thousands. Over the pond... more bad news. 36-hour hospital wait for 87-year-old , and worse yet, Woman dies 'after hospital wait'.
Bad news for govt. run health care, or media hype?
posted by Blake on Oct 2, 2002 - 39 comments

Today I saw an ad on TV complaining that American health care is being “Canadianized.” All I can say is that I wish these Americans would stop lying about the Canadian health care system. While most Canadians seem to agree that our health system is a bit of a mess, we also seem to agree that we don’t want the American system, thank you very much.

The US market-driven medical system spends about 14% of its economy on health care, while Canada's cost is about 9% of GDP. Both countries' health care costs stood at about 7% in 1971, when the Canadian system converted to the public system and the US decided to stick with a market-driven private system. Yet the Canadian system covers everyone; the American system doesn’t. Private delivery of health care means money is lost to the profits investors demand (as much as 15%), higher executive salaries, higher marketing/advertising costs, and lost economies of scale.

Why attack the Canadian system? Part of the answer lies in the fact that to the American health care industry, Canada is just one huge, untapped market that they would love to have access to.
posted by tranquileye on Jun 16, 2000 - 24 comments