The left wing of the Democratic party still holds up Canada's "single payer"—that is, entirely government-financed—health-care system as a model

National Review, Sept 1, 2008

The left wing of the Democratic party still holds up Canada's "single payer"--that is, entirely government-financed--health-care system as a model. The latest innovation of that system: Overextended doctors are deciding which patients will get treated by drawing names out of a hat. They are rationing health care, in other words, by lottery.

Dr. Ken Runciman of Ontario told Canada's National Post that he had to cut his workload and couldn't find a better method. "It was just my way of trying to minimize the bias ... rather than going through the list and saying 'I don't like you, and I don't like you.'" Dr. Runciman has cut 100 patients from his practice, while another doctor in Newfoundland has cut 500 patients. All in all, too few Canadian doctors means that approximately 5 million Canadians are now without family care. What was that about "universal coverage"?