 
News of the Day ... in Perspective3/21/2005Canadian medicare going broke While Americans may be impressed at the “free” medical care promised to all Canadians, rich or poor, the Canadian federal and virtually all provincial governments acknowledge that there’s a crisis. Canadians pay an average of 48% of their income in taxes, and in Ontario, 40% of every tax dollar goes to medicare. But people who don’t want their teenage daughter to wait in pain for three years before having arthroscopic knee surgery are resorting to private clinics. They pay full fees without any help from the government. “We can’t afford a state monopoly on health care anymore,” said Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. In Ontario, more than 10,000 nurses and hospital workers are facing layoffs over the next two years if additional funds are not forthcoming. Critics are unimpressed with Prime Minister Paul Martin’s pledge of $30 billion in funding over the next 10 years to improve health throughout the country (Beth Duff-Brown, AP, Ariz Daily Star, 3/22/05). Additional information:
Facts and figures from the Fraser Institute
Canadian Medicare: Doomed from theStart by Terence Corcoran, The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, May 1992
Canadian Medicare: A Road to Serfdom - posted 3/21/2005
The Canadian Model: Could it Work Here? - posted 3/21/2005
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