What is the sentiment of the Canadian public on public/private health care issues?
MM: The public Medicare system as we have it today has huge support in Canada; surveys consistently show support at 90 percent levels. Despite the noise and issues we have around the health care system there is overwhelming backing for it and there is a great deal of fear about losing it. Interestingly, I think that much of the support for public universal Medicare in Canada comes as a result of Canadian familiarity with the U.S. system. Most Canadians travel to the U.S. and have friends and relatives in the U.S. We are not strangers and we know the U.S. well. The U.S. system is Canada’s health care boogeyman. The fear of ending up with a U.S. system is one of the main reasons there is so much support for a rigid single payer system. With all our problems, there are almost no Canadians who would trade our health care system for the U.S. system, especially the middle-class who have seen friends and relatives south of the border struggling with the cost of health care. No one wants this
