The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

In 1961, Canada created its single-payer health care system which covered “all medical and psychiatric care, in or out of the hospital” based on the model that Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas instituted in his province (127). In 1965, when the US government decided to provide health care to all citizens over 65, they used Canada’s National Insurance Model and gave their new program the name that Douglas had coined—Medicare.

By the 2000s, the Canadian health care system was struggling to maintain its services, but Canadian patients still reported higher levels of satisfaction than American ones. Furthermore, Canada still has longer life expectancy and lower rates of infant mortality than the US. It manages this while paying half of what the US does for health care—10% of its GDP. The problem is that its rate of spending can’t keep up with the rising costs of care. The disinclination to pay for health care has made it a less desirable profession, leading to a dearth of medical providers. For Reid’s shoulder problem, the waiting list for a specialist was so long that he never got a chance to see either an orthopedist or a physical therapist. He was told that it would take about a year to get an appointment for a consultation and another six to eight months for possible surgery.