Some people, however, believe that market forces, in combination with minimal government intervention, could respond to this need. From this perspective, health care is just another large and complex industry, much like any other. The other point of view is that health and health care are so fundamental and unique that we need a publicly funded, universally accessible system to provide these services. Some people argue that the health system is so vital a component of Canadian reality that it in part defines us as a nation. The system should, therefore, be national in character with limited variation from province to province.
Good health is an important component of well-being.
And one important contributor to health is the availability of effective health care services. But neither is it analogous to such essentials as food or shelter. The prices of food and shelter vary widely and we can eat well or live comfortably for relatively little, but some essential health care interventions, such as open-heart surgery, are very expensive. In fact, no industrialized country, not even the United States, treats health care as a pure commodity that entrepreneurs are free to bring to the marketplace or withhold at their will, and consumers can bargain for directly, buying according to price, quality or any other criterion that makes sense to them. But moving toward a system in which ability to pay determines access to health care is a step in that direction.