The Canadian health-care system, which guarantees medical care for the entire population without charge at the time it is provided, also allows doctors and patients more choice than the American system about whom to see and what medical procedures to provide. Describing the various mechanisms that make the Canadian system work, this book also highlights the problems of the current US system. In the process, the authors set out to demonstrate how a public, single-payer system can provide high-quality care to many more people at much less cost than the present market-based system.