No, it's simply that having the profit-driven USA system so close to us, means that our health care workers are naturally drawn south. Which makes our system more expensive to run (we have to overpay the ones that remain), and difficult to staff (making for longer queues, which is what drives people south).
If we had some ocean (and VISAs) between us and the USA, like the UK does, then the effect would be greatly lessened, and the public system here would likely work as it was designed. Just like in the UK and other modern countries.
The parallel problems in the UK system, FWIW, are (1) private medicine pays much better than NHS medicine, though fewer jobs in it are available -- thus potentially causing a similar "brain drain" to Canada's, except without needing to emigrate; and (2) British demand for medical professionals exceeds supply, so we in turn
brain-drain other countries, which is arguably not being a responsible world citizen.
Mind you, that last one has probably had a positive effect on race relations in the UK -- African, and before that South Asian,
doctors were many white Britons' first experiences of other races. Which were thus positive experiences.
Peter
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