Will It Be Labatt's or Amstel? Continued

"Physicians and patients in France expect to get the latest and greatest treatments, with minimal interference and minimal waiting. They're also willing to tolerate some inequality, albeit far less than Americans are. (In France, private supplemental insurance and an allowance for some doctors to charge extra fees creates a de facto two-tiered system, although the gap between the two tiers isn't that large and even people in the lower tier get timely, high quality care along with generous protection from medical expenses.)

Canadians don't like to wait and don't like to be denied the most advanced care, either. But they seem to have more strongly egalitarian values than the French do. That helps explain their rigidly centralized system, which provides extraordinary financial protection for all people, does so uniformly for the entire population, but sometimes sacrifices convenience and immediate access to advanced care."

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