Better Medicine: Reforming Canadian Health Care

Marilyn Mardiros is an associate professor of health sciences at the
University of Ottawa.

Written by a variety of professionals with similar political and
economic views, Better Medicine brings a free enterprise, market-driven
perspective to the ongoing debate over health-care reform. The authors
set out to inform readers of the potential of private-sector involvement
in the Canadian health-care system. In doing so, they challenge many of
assumptions underlying the Canada Health Act and the resultant welfare
state health delivery system.

Unfortunately, the book presents a one-sided picture that simplifies
rather than contributes to the discourse on health-care reform. To their
credit, a few of the authors go beyond mere advocacy of individual
choice and competition in health care. Watson provides the reader with
an objective and credible examination of the economics of health care.
Ramsay contributes a useful comparative analysis of public and private
health care in Canada, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, the
United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and South Africa. And Baxter
writes lucidly about changing demographics and their potential impact on
health care in Canada.