Take public health insurance. Canada has registered health insurance at the World Trade Organization as a financial service, leaving the very heart of medicare vulnerable to trade deals requiring Canada to open the field to foreign and private investors. You would hope that this classification applies only to the private health insurance plans many of us enjoy at work to cover dental care or medication, but there's nothing in Canada's WTO commitments to spell that out. A foreign company could argue that it is not trying to tell Canada how to run its health-care system, but just wants a shot at managing parts of it. In other words, if a service is exclusively provided by the government, it is exempt.
Health care is such a service.
The government, through medicare, obviously plays a huge role. But much of the health-care system is, in fact, privately run. Doctors' offices operate as private businesses. So do the labs in many hospitals, after-hours clinics, dental offices, homecare providers and nursing homes. Even the hospitals themselves are often private, non-profit corporations.