Mahablog did a very good job, but I should probably address the New York Times article on the "deterioration" of the Canadian health care system. For those requiring a refreshed course on how CanadaCare operates, head back to my series on the subject. Here's the summary: Canada has a mediocre health care system that's a bit better than ours (Ranked #30 vs. America's #37). It's fully government run, with no allowance for private care of any sort. And what you get is about what you'd expect when a finite government budget is all that powers the system: average care for all, superb for none.
Think of it this way: America has a bipolar health care system that chooses its mood swings based on income. If you're rich, you can get the best knee transplant in the world, and you can do so about three hours from now. If you're poor, you will never, ever get a knee transplant. Ever. Canada, which doesn't allow for that segregation by class, averages the two out: you have to wait a couple months for your operation, and you can't speed it up by flashing some green. So America is much better for some, much worse for many, and about the same for most. Canada eliminates the variance, ending in mediocrity for all.
Canada, however, is not a good health care system. Not compared to France, to Germany, to Japan or to Sweden. Health care is not a finite resource, so outlawing private dollars from any role in the market is a bit silly. So long as you're gonna make money, I can't think of a much more logical place to spend it than medical treatment. Smarter is the French system, which guarantees floor coverage for everyone, subsidizes further coverage for the poor, and let's the rest of the population decide if they want to pay for the upgrade from Corolla to Corvette. Worst of all, of course, is our system. Canada, you should understand, doesn't actually ration. They elongate, they time. They stretch waits and procedures so everyone can get them, but not instantly. That's annoying. America, however, simply withholds treatments from the poor. It's not that they wait, it's that they go without. To my mind, that's criminal.
