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Comment by mistercow | Hacker News Reader

> there isn't a single large country where it works

The healthcare system in Canada seems to be working a lot better than the one here. Is that large enough?

You mean the one where the Supreme Court of Canada agreed that the delays in the treatment of cancer in combination with a ban on private insurance were violating Canadian citizens' rights?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaoulli_v._Quebec_(Attorney_Ge...

Is the bar "works perfectly" or "works better than what we have in the US"?

The population of Canada is approx 35 million, whereas population of the United States is over 300 million. Canada is not a large country population wise.

And presumably, there are nearly 10 times as many taxpayers in the US to fund such a system. Why do the absolute numbers matter? In fact, shouldn't there be better economies of scale in the larger country?

OK, Japan then. 125 million people, universal health coverage, ranked 10th in the world by WHO (the US is ranked 38).

I hate to say it, but:

owned

Why is this always used as an excuse why the US is different? The US has ten times more people, hence 10 time more tax payers. If anything I would expect things to be easier for the US because of its scale.

Canada has significant costs associated with delivering health care service to remote areas because of its low population density. A US public system should be more efficient, not less.

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