Canada’s health care system has been getting plenty of press in the U.S. recently during the intense debate about health care reform.

American journalist T.R. Reid, has just published a new book, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, in which he looks at not just the Canadian system, but at health care models around the world.

Reid shares his own experiences seeking care for his “bum shoulder” in the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, and Canada.

In an article for the Washington Post, “5 Myths About Health Care Around the World,” Reid argues that the U.S. health care system actually takes elements from many other countries’ medical models, including Canada’s:

In many ways, foreign health-care models are not really “foreign” to America, because our crazy-quilt health-care system uses elements of all of them. For Native Americans or veterans, we’re Britain: The government provides health care, funding it through general taxes, and patients get no bills. For people who get insurance through their jobs, we’re Germany: Premiums are split between workers and employers, and private insurance plans pay private doctors and hospitals.

For people over 65, we’re Canada: Everyone pays premiums for an insurance plan run by the government (Medicare), and the public plan pays private doctors and hospitals according to a set fee schedule. And for the tens of millions without insurance coverage, we’re Burundi or Burma: In the world’s poor nations, sick people pay out of pocket for medical care; those who can’t pay stay sick or die.

You can also listen to an interview with Reid about his health care adventures on NPR’s Fresh Air.

So what do Canadians think about their own health care system?

Despite ongoing concerns about lengthy waits for certain types of medical procedures, a recent survey by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that overall, Canadians are “happy with primary health care.”

Photo ©Carolyn B. Heller