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Universal health care: Is it worth the long waits?
After battling brain cancer, Lindsay McCreith is ready for his next fight: He’s taking on the Canadian health care system.

His case has potential repercussions on both sides of the border as pressure grows for health reform.

It started when McCreith, a resident of Newmarket, north of Toronto, suffered a seizure last year. He was told in Canada he would have to wait more than four months for an MRI to rule out a malignant tumor.

Rather than wait, McCreith, 66, quickly arranged a trip to Buffalo for a scan. The MRI confirmed his worst fears — a cancerous growth that a Buffalo neurosurgeon removed a few weeks later.

“If I had been patient, I’d probably be disabled or dead today,” McCreith said.

Now, McCreith is suing the Ontario government in a closely watched constitutional challenge that could reshape universal health coverage in the province by striking down the prohibition against patients buying private insurance.

On this side of the border, advocates of universal health insurance champion Canada’s popular public program as a fairer system that the United States should emulate, as seen in Michael Moore film, “Sicko.” Yet critics see the long waits for some services in Canada — mainly for non-emergency surgery — as an argument against an increased role for government in health care. ...

...Canada bans private insurance for essential health needs, but it is not a socialized system. Doctors and hospitals are private...

...McCreith’s case will test that decision in Ontario by claiming that the province’s ban on private health insurance and private billing by physicians infringed on his constitutional right to life, liberty and security.

“In Canada, we have a monopoly health system, and you don’t have the right to seek alternatives. That can be a huge financial and emotional burden for patients,” said Avril Allen, McCreith’s attorney.

A recent statement from the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which is helping to sponsor the lawsuit, said that it was intolerable that residents could buy medical insurance for their pets but not for themselves.

“The question is this: Should Canadians have to stay on waiting lists against their will?” Allen said.

Some people say the cases will undo Canada’s cherished system of providing health insurance to everyone, a turn of events desired by proponents of privatization.

Others say they will force the government — and taxpayers — to invest more money to fill in the gaps in the health system. ...