What they suggest will more likely mend than rend the health safety net. By global standards, Canada offers good health care to its citizens, rich or poor. Even so, what we have does not satisfy the ever-increasing needs of a greying population. Each time an Ontario woman is airlifted hundreds of miles to have a baby, each time someone is turned away from an emergency ward, each time someone shuffles to Buffalo for chemotherapy or an MRI, the public feels under-served and vulnerable to the vagaries of illness or accident.

it is wrong to assume the public purse pays all the bills or ever has. About 27 per cent of health services in Canada are today provided by the private sector -- not medicare. Most nursing homes are privately run. Private labs do blood tests and X-rays while private clinics perform abortions and eye surgery. And the prescription medication that is so critical in treating illness is most often covered by drug plans or private individuals. So what are we afraid of?