Myth Buster: European Health Care Models
- Ontario Health Coalition
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Ontario Health Coalition
22 Jan 2026
Pro-privatization groups, some of which are funded by or linked to right-wing American organizations and corporate interests, have turned to making false claims about two-tier European health care systems in their push to privatize. This tactic is an attempt to divert attention from the American health care system that the Canadian public generally knows more about and understands to be a failure. Nonetheless, Canadians are often subject to myths about the United States also, particularly about wait times and costs. This myth buster addresses the most common of their claims, starting with clear information about the United States, then looking at their claims about Canadian public health care compared to Europe and Australia.
It is also important to note that the pro-privatization forces (usually funded by for-profit health care entities and interest groups) often mislead Canadians about our standing in the world. International studies are often misquoted or manipulatively quoted and groups pushing privatization put out information that is sometimes completely false. Prior to the pandemic, the data shows that Canada had the lowest wait times for cataract surgeries and second lowest for joint replacement surgeries among peer nations.
Download a copy of this Myth Buster here:
