As I have noted before (see �Missing Fact on British Health Care,� May 7, 2006), the New York Times feels the need to periodically run articles on the health care crises in countries with universal health care systems. These articles never make comparisons to the health care situation in the United States, which might help readers put the articles in some context. An article in today�s Times fits the bill perfectly, reporting the surprising news that many Canadian doctors are hoping to make more money outside of the country�s public health care system. (Actually, the article never mentions the possibility that doctors want to leave the public system to make more money. The article implies that the doctors are just very publicly minded individuals who only think of the public good, not about money.) Anyhow, the article includes the obligatory assertions about long waiting lines in the Canadian system from a right-wing think tank. The article does not include any comments from supporters of the public health care system. It also tells us that the cost of the Canadian system is �skyrocketing.� This is a striking description. The New York Times has never used such a term to describe the considerably more rapid growth of health care costs in the United States.
--Dean Baker
