ABSTRACT
The most attractive features of the Canadian National Health Insurance system from a patient viewpoint are that it covers all citizens and legal residents and has very little cost-sharing by patients. At the most public end of the spectrum would be a national health service, in which the word "service" connotes government delivery of the services, as well as their financing. A National Health Service in its pure form is one in which the national government finances care, owns the facilities, and hires the providers on a salaried basis. Health care critics can do little but wring their hands over the skewed use of money that supports high-tech procedures that briefly delay death for a few patients while ignoring primary-care needs of many others. Play-or-pay proposals require that employers either buy health insurance for their employees or pay a tax that will be used to fund a publicly administered alternative program.
