Long waiting lists seem to have become a permanent feature of Canadian health care. But what are the effects of having to wait a long time for medical treatment? Is it just an annoyance, or are the consequences more serious?

Those opposed to market-based health care reform do their best to scare Canadians. Reality, however, is considerably different. International experience suggests that private competition is a fundamental feature of a high-performing, universal access health care system. For evidence, consider the Dutch health care system where private (and even for-profit) insurance companies, private providers, activity-based funding and cost sharing combine to provide more timely access to high (if not higher) quality care than Canada's system for similar cost.

Unfortunately, given the current government monopoly on healthcare insurance, the lack of appropriate incentives, and unwillingness to consider policies to reduce wait times that seem to have been successful in European countries with universal health care, it is entirely possible that Canadians may continue to experience some of the longest wait times in the developed world.

The Canadian health care system is not free -- in fact, Canadian families pay heavily for healthcare through the tax system. That high price paints the long wait times and lack of medical technologies in Canada in a very different light.