Myth: Canada's system of healthcare financing is unsustainable.

Talking about the financial sustainability of medicare — Canada’s taxpayer-financed insurance plans for hospital and physician care — has long been considered “the national pastime”. Nonetheless, financial sustainability is usually framed as a recent phenomenon, the result of a comprehensive health system attempting to meet the growing needs of an aging population. Those who argue the system is unsustainable point to public funding and administration as part of the problem, rather than the solution. Their proposed remedy is quite simple — Canadians can accept less-comprehensive public health insurance, with more services being paid for out-of-pocket or by private insurance. However, as simple as this solution may be, it ignores the facts about which costs are rising and by how much; the ability of medicare to adapt; international evidence; and, most importantly, the wants and needs of Canadians.