Ezra does Canada

(Sounds like a nerdy porno.) Yes, Ezra has installment number three up, and as with France and the UK, this post is a great summary of the kind of functional health care that most other developed countries have figured out how to do. An excerpt:

Canada's health care system, much more so than the others we've looked at, is a pure single-payer effort. It's really run by the government, private insurance is barred from interfering in any significant way, and so on. And despite the vaunted inefficiencies of government, they manage to cover their entire population with administration costs that're 300% less than ours per capita. Considering that 42 million of our folks aren't even in the system, the difference is even greater than that. Much of it comes from the simplicity of having the government pick up the tab rather than forcing doctors to haggle with insurers, but not all. In any case, that metric blows my mind.

My family owns a cottage in Ontario where we spend 1-2 weeks every summer. Being prone to ear infections, I've had more than one occasion to witness the Canadian healthcare system first hand, and I have to tell you, it's a breath of fresh air. I'm not even paying into their system, but every time I've had to go in, I get my exam, prescriptions, and follow-up care for - literally - pocket change. No waiting, no messing about with forms, just great, effective primary care. If only the winters weren't so damn cold ...