Lesson 2: Doctors like the system as much as patients do

Many developed countries have achieved universal health coverage, but Canada is relatively distinct in its insistence that individuals should not have to pay any money at the point of care. When Canadians go to the doctor or hospital, they just show their Canadian “Medicare” card.

At Women’s College Hospital, executives showed Mr. Sanders an empty billing window. The hospital, they told him, has one employee who manages bills. “For the entire hospital?” Mr. Sanders said, in mock disbelief.

Several patients told him about the comfort that comes from not having to pay for their care directly. And doctors, too, said they felt more comfortable recommending their patients get an operation or see a specialist than they might if those treatments weren’t free.

“I didn’t have to fill out any forms; I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to pay for the simple job of staying alive,” said Lilac Chow, a kidney transplant patient at Toronto General Hospital, who had been brought in to share her experience with the senator.

Whenever Mr. Sanders was asked what he learned about the Canadian system, the value of free care came up.

“What I think stuck out to me was from both the patients and the physicians, the importance of not having to worry about money in terms of the doctor-patient relationship,” he said in an interview after his trip on Tuesday.