Ottawa

The seductive status quo

Keith Martin takes his health care campaign to the other national newspaper.

Health care has been used for too long as a political stick to club those who would like to modernize our system. Some have found it too seductive to wrap themselves up in the status quo, suggesting that this is the route to prevent Canada from adopting an American-style system, which has poorer health outcomes at a higher cost.

These same people make a profoundly flawed statement that our health care system defines ourselves as Canadians. They have trotted out the pervasive myth that Canada has “the best health care system in the world.” This, however, has been a big lie, often rooted in political expediency at the expense of patient care.

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