Although the flaws of our government's delivery receive the most attention, the excellence of our system is largely taken for granted. The ideal solution is no to completely overhaul our current system by adopting a foreign or highly altered one. Instead, the greatest challenge is to maintain the American spirit and confidence while improving the delivery. True, Health Management Quarterly recently reported that 61 percent of Americans favor a system like Canada's. However, when asked in a survey, nationally, most people would respond negatively to the current system.
Policies always look better on the other side of the boundary.
What most Americans don't know is that in January 1990, the waiting list for heart bypass surgery in Toronto topped 1,000. If Americans had a delay of eight months for surgery, there would inevitably be a lawsuit. Yet, rationing delays are tolerated in foreign nations because the concept of malpractice doesn't even exist. This sharp contrast is due to the fundamental differences in economic and political systems. The United States is a vast and disperse country.