We stole the title of this post, sorry. But, we love it. First person testimonials are great sometimes.

The article is elegant in its’ simplicity. If you want a healthcare system like Canada’s (leaving aside for a moment whether we actually do or not)– there are many trade offs that must be made. Lots of them. Like what?

1. You cannot maintain a healthcare system like Canada’s and at the same time maintain the world’s largest, best equipped, all-purpose military whose existence imposes caution on rogue elements of the world. Canada’s costly healthcare necessitates that its military be small, over-strained and under-financed. Competent but perpetually frustrated.

2. Apart from high costs necessitating a high tax rate, a huge downside is catastrophically long wait times for operations. This results in unknown numbers of deaths of patients waiting. Emergency or critical cases are dealt with quickly and competently in Canada, but waiting to be diagnosed can be a death sentence. Access to healthcare in Canada is a continuing problem.

Not trivial things. We have a society let the our obligations as informed citizens wither away. We have choices to make. There is no “right” answer, but there are lot’s of easy ones that lure you in like the Siren’s Song to Odysseus For those a little weak on their Mythology, sailors who sailed near were compelled by the Sirens’ enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast.

Shipwrecks are bad. Shipwrecking a country is really, really bad. Trust us, we are doctors– we know bad.