So much for the single-payer utopia

I've said repeatedly on this blog that health care policy puts me to sleep most of the time. I usually stay awake long enough, however, to hear many left-of-center colleagues praise the Canadian single-payer system to no end. Which is why I bring up this New York Times story by Christopher Mason: A doctor who operates Canada?s largest private hospital in violation of Canadian law was elected Tuesday to become president of the Canadian Medical Association. The move gives an influential platform to a prominent advocate of increasing privatization of Canada?s troubled taxpayer-financed medical system. The new president-elect, Dr. Brian Day, has openly run his private hospital in Vancouver even though it accepts money from patients for procedures that are available through the public system, which is illegal. Dr. Day, who will assume the presidency in August next year, advocates a hybrid health care system similar to those in many European countries.... opposition to private health care has diminished in Canada, in part because waiting times have more than doubled for certain procedures during the last 13 years, according to the Fraser Institute, a conservative research group. Debate has been especially heated since a ruling by the Supreme Court in June 2005 gave residents of Quebec the right to pursue private treatment if the province could not provide services in a reasonable time. Since then, Quebec?s premier and the leaders of British Columbia and Alberta have expressed a willingness to consider solutions that include privately paid medical services, in part because of the court decision but also because of the rising cost of providing free health care. On average, provinces spend nearly 45 percent of their budgets on health care. In the meantime, private health clinics are opening at an average rate of one a week in Canada. ?The Canadian health system is at a point in history right now where it?s going to be reformed in the wake of the Supreme Court decision,? Dr. Day said Tuesday in a telephone interview. ?The concept that the status quo is something that we should maintain is wearing thin, with frustrated doctors and frustrated patients.? Since its formation in the 1960?s, Canada?s publicly financed health insurance system has been at the core of the national identity. But in recent years, with waiting times growing and costs skyrocketing, the merits of a larger private component to the health care system has not been the taboo topic it once was. Before I doze off, do check out Megan McArdle's recent health care post as well. UPDATE: Many commenters -- and Ezra Klein -- have (justifiably) asked where there is praise for the Canadian single-payer system on the left. So, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. That said, I should also acknowledge that this is hardly the uniform view of left-of-center policy analysts. For critiques of the Canadian system from Democrats, see this post by Ezra Klein.