In the midst of the still potentially tragic health care debate in the land of the elephant across the line, it’s interesting to notice occasional references to our current public health care system in the true north that are almost accurate. See, e.g., “How Does Canada’s Health System Actually Work?” by Ian Austen, in the New York Times.

Or, from Ezra Klein at the Washington Post : “Administrative Costs in Health Care: A Primer.” Which includes this intriguing paragraph: “As of now, no one I spoke with knew of good data separating the costs of dealing with Medicare and with private insurers. But there are studies comparing Canada and the United States that show a single payer vastly reduces administrative spending. Few think we could achieve those savings today, even if we did convert entirely to a single payer. But there’s certainly a level of savings between here and there that we could reach.” (O well … there are none so blind as those who are blind, etc.)

Meanwhile, a new “Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests 82 per cent of Canadians believe our system is better than US health care.” The “poll also suggests 70 per cent of Canadians think their health-care system is working well or very well, while the remainder feel the system is either not working well or not working well at all.”

However you look at it, there aren’t many in Canada who are going to be moving to the US to get better health care any time soon. And that seems unlikely to change, no matter just how the US system may or may not be reformed this year