Canada's system is often held up as the model, but Canadians themselves are increasingly critical of it. Let's look at the evidence.

The Fraser Institute's annual survey found that the median wait time from GP referral to specialist treatment in Canada was 27.7 weeks in 2023 — the longest ever recorded and nearly double what it was 30 years ago. For certain specialties, waits are even longer: orthopedic surgery averaged 46.1 weeks.

Access to basic care is deteriorating. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 6.5 million Canadians — about 17% of the population — don't have a regular family doctor. Emergency rooms are routinely overwhelmed, with patients waiting 12-20 hours in some provinces.

Canada is virtually the only developed country that bans most private healthcare. The Canada Health Act prohibits doctors from offering privately what is publicly insured. This means Canadians can't even pay out of pocket for faster treatment in most cases. The result is that wealthy Canadians travel to the U.S. for care — including politicians who publicly defend the system.

Canada also lags in medical technology. The country has fewer MRI machines per capita than the OECD average — about 10 per million people compared to 40 per million in the U.S. PET scanners, ICU beds, and other critical resources are similarly scarce.

Spending less sounds good until you realize what it buys. Canada spends less because it provides less — fewer procedures, longer waits, less technology, fewer specialists. Canadian healthcare spending has been growing faster than inflation and consuming an ever-larger share of provincial budgets, crowding out education and infrastructure.

The Canadian Medical Association itself has called for major reforms. If the system's own doctors say it's struggling, perhaps we shouldn't be rushing to copy it.