The article mentions the Canadian health care system, which I can speak of, since I live in Canada.<p>In Canada, most health care is paid for by provincially funded systems which pay health care providers directly. Here in Ontario, our system is called OHIP. Canada also places limits on drug prices.<p>The system is mostly working. If you need routine or critical care, you get it. But there are some issues. If you need expensive medical care for a condition that isn't killing you right now -- hip replacements are the common example here -- you can expect to wait quite a while because only so many treatments are funded every year. Some people who have such conditions do travel abroad to have them fixed, at their own expense, but that is quite rare. Not a lot of people can fork over the six-figure sums for such treatments out of pocket. I suppose if things started fraying, people would start buying US medical insurance, but we're definitely not at that point now.<p>Also, it can be quite hard to get a family physician in small and midsize towns, because few physicians want to locate there. When I lived in Kitchener, I called around to some physicians, and they all had one-to-two-year waiting lists. Fortunately there are plenty of walk-in medical centres, which are staffed by physicians, and there they'll see you right away.<p>Generally, my sense is that the Canadian system is working, but there are some issues.