UPDATE ON HEALTH-CARE IN CANADA - WHATS RIGHT, WHATS WRONG, WHATS LEFT

Americans wanting to understand health care in Canada must take into a ccount three issues: first, what's right about the system, and always has been-it is an accessible system providing universal access to comp rehensive medical care. What isn't wrong with the system, that is, the lies promulgated in the United States press about long waiting lines for care and Canadians pouring across the border for care unavailable in Canada, is included. The second issue is what's wrong, and has alwa ys been wrong, with the Canadian system: it's a private-practice, fee- for-service medical (some would say ''sickness'') care system in which the social determinants of health and primary prevention have never b een appropriately funded. Finally, for several years there have been, and continue to be, real and ever-escalating threats to the Canadian s ystem in the form of block-granting and serious cuts.