Lawrence Krauss: Free medical care shouldn't mean no medical care

National Post

12-07-2025

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I recognize that medical care is harder to maintain in smaller and more rural communities. But the situation in P.E.I. has reached dangerous levels. I wrote a year ago about the problems with staffing emergency rooms at hospitals in this province. Because of a shortage of doctors, those who staff these facilities have schedules that resemble those of early medical residents. But on-call requirements are often unacceptable to established physicians. As a result, it is extremely difficult to recruit senior physicians to the province to alleviate the current shortage.
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We are moving away from P.E.I. this year, in part due to the medical shortage here. We are moving to a somewhat more urban environment on Vancouver Island, and are hoping that, because of the relatively large number of retired couples on the island, there may be a larger number of family doctors to accommodate them.
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But, in our case there is another reason to live there. It is just a short ferry ride to Port Townsend, Wash. Having worked in the U.S. for my entire adult career, I have Medicare coverage, which covers about 80 per cent of the cost of medical procedures. In the case of catastrophic illness, the residual expense can be large, which is why individuals in the U.S. who can afford it purchase private health care. But in my case, I plan to be able to schedule routine procedures in Washington State if I need them and find they are not available at home.
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The irony of returning to the U.S. for medical care, when that was one of the factors that led to our leaving that country, is not lost on me. I believe in government-financed health care as a right for citizens. Clearly however, the system in Canada as it is currently set up isn't working. My wife once lived in Australia, which also has a government health plan. She was able to pay into an additional plan to access some physicians directly, if necessary. Clearly such a private option removes the burden from the public system and also allows doctors supplemental income. Something like that seems like a good option for Canada, especially in rural areas, which are currently underserved.
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Finally, at a time when there is such concern about immigration, it is important to recognize that there are well-qualified physicians from around the world who would be happy to relocate to Canada if they were easily able to do so. Federal and provincial governments should consider fast-tracking permanent residence status for such sorely needed professionals.
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When I left the U.S., I heard horror stories about Canadian health care. I tend to view these as apocryphal. For urgent cases, both from my own experience and those of friends, the country appears to allow individuals to generally get access to necessary expertise in a relatively timely way, without bankrupting them. But the cost to individuals, and the country, of not universally providing more routine preventative health care is great. Something needs to be done to fix a system that appears to be broken.
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