Reccesoldier,
The biggest difference between the two countries is how healthcare is paid for.
This IS the sacred cow. A lot of your services are provided privately.
The price is set by the payer. It's up to the service provider to do his best
profit margin wise. Your family doctor and the diagnostic test labs are private companies.
That being said, I can compare this debate to the energy deregulation that happened here a few years ago.
Now we are free to sign a contract with more than one retailer and pay more for utilities than we used to.
We can say we pay the same for natural gas as Al Gore. In Tennessee natural gas is a comfort. In Alberta
it's life support. I digress.....
Your presumption that things can't change in the public system is patently false.
They do - Proximity to the US allows a great deal of cross pollination.
A constant two way exchange of ideas and methods.
The spear carriers in this exchange tend to be healthcare professionals.
I've never met a physician who didn't want to improve things.
I have however, met managers and bureaucrats who resist change.
Health care unions are the immovable objects in this argument.
This is what Canadians should want fixed.
This can be fixed - politically. Don't believe your MLA when he says they are doing their best.
Don't buy into dealing with the wrong problem on ideological grounds.
When Alberta slashed healthcare budgets in the 90s we assumed Dr West knew what he was doing.
Most of us didn't realize the man was a veterinarian!