among countries with developed countries. That has been the finding by most researchers, the most prominent probably being the Commonwealth Fund, am American private foundation that compares health care systems among the countries of the world (link below) and ranks then each year based on a wide variety of indicators.

As a reporter who covers health care in Canada, I have documented many failings in Canada that lead to suffering here and I have never advocated that Americans should emulate the Canadian health care system.

Here are my thoughts about heath care:

(1) No health care system can prevent all suffering. We all are vulnerable to varying degrees to human frailty and we are all mortal.

(2) Better health care systems seek to reduce the scale of suffering by preventing and treating illness and injury in ways that are more sustainable and cost effective.

(3) Every developed country in the world has a mix of private and public health care and this has always been the case since the advent of modern medicine. The United States and Canada were alone, though, in claiming the contrary; Americans resisted public care and Canadians resisted private care by paying homage to myths that were never true.

(4) Other developed countries have openly embraced the reality that health care is always a blend of public and private financing. They have tried to find the right blend, have been more open to making changes, and the citizens of those countries generally receive better care and in a far more cost-effective manner than citizens of the United States or Canada.

(5) While poor health care outcomes in Canada rival those in the United States, and costs in Canada are among the highest, the U.S. stands alone when it comes to how much it spends on health care, with per-capita spending about 50% higher than any other nation on earth.

(6) Opponents of health care reform in the U.S. and Canada have long pointed to across our shared border to create a bogeyman that would stall needed changes; Opponents of reform in both countries share this in common: They are more interested in defending ideological myths than in protecting patients.

All of these points are evident in my writing and my tweets. I was a critic of American health care when I lived there and when I was a student at UVA and I have been a critic of Canadian health care since I moved here, though in a much more public way. There are far better health care systems in the world but you won't find them on our continent.