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In the Oct. 21 federal election campaign, health care will be the top concern, or near the top, for most Canadians.

It’s like that in every election.

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But what will again undercut any serious debate about Canada’s financial and performance crises in health care are the two most enduring and damaging myths about Canadian health care.

First that it’s “free.” Second that’s it’s “the best health care system in the world.”

Both claims are nonsense.

But raising this issue during an election is the “third rail” of Canadian politics, because any political leader who advocates any reform other than pouring more public money into our broken system, will be vilified by their opponents as advocating “U.S.-style health care.”

In fact the U.S., depending on what is measured, is one of the few developed countries Canada outperforms in many international surveys.

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But what those surveys also show is that Canadians are paying top dollar for mediocre health care, compared to many developed countries.