Canadian medicine is, in many ways, very different from American medicine. Canada has national health insurance, not a bewildering network of private insurers. In 2022, the United States spent 17.3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on health care. In Canada, the equivalent number was 12.2 percent—about a third lower. In Canada, there is much more of an emphasis on asking whether expensive interventions are worth it. (That’s another of the reasons why Canadian doctors were so quick to adopt radial insertion: It’s cheaper than inserting the tube through the thigh.)
