Sorry, Canada, but our supposedly first-class health care setup doesn’t hold up to international standards.

An analysis conducted by The New York Times that pitted the health care services of countries against each other in a formal competition found Canada to be a major loser.

The competition featured Canada, Britain, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia and the U.S.

In Canada’s first round in the competition, going up against Britain, four out of five health care experts deemed our nation’s health care system to be wanting.

Canada received only one vote in favour, the rest of the medical experts chose Britain.

The United States even beat us, with our neighbour to the south making it to the semi-finals.

Even though health care is “free” in Canada, the level of service offered seriously leaves citizens wanting. We may think that our health care system is infinitely better than the United States, but that may not be the case.

When speaking to one of the experts used by The New York Times in the study, the National Post reported that Canada’s super-long wait times were the reason why the nation’s health care system did so poorly in the competition.

The medical expert said only 43% of Canadians are actually seeing a medical professional on the same day they seek help, half of Canadians wait 2+ in emergency rooms, and the wait time to see a specialist is 2-3 months.

Canada’s health care system doesn’t leave us wanting so much as it leaves us waiting.

Spending is cited as the main reason why wait-times are so long. Other countries in the NYT analysis spend far more on health care, which is probably why their level of service is so much better.

Still, Britain spends almost the same as Canada on health care, despite having shorter wait times.

Obviously this humble blog doesn’t have the answer to the issue, but it is high time that Canadians dismantle the myth that our health care system is infinitely better than anywhere else in North America.

Canada needs to do better when it comes to health care, an issue that will hopefully be brought in the next federal election.