Theodore R. Marmor is professor emeritus of public policy and political science at Yale University and a former fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is the author of ‘The Politics of Medicare (Aldine Transaction, 2000). He spoke to freelance writer Sarah Arnquist. This is the first in a series of posts briefly describing health care delivery in other countries. Q. How does the Canadian system provide health care at lower cost than the American system? BY THE NUMBERS Canada * Life expectancy: 81 years * Infant mortality: 5 per 1,000 live births * Health spending as a percentage of GDP: 10 * Percentage of health spending that is private: 30 * Doctors per 10,000 people: 19 Source: World Health Organization. U.S. statistics. A. Canada’s national health insurance, called Medicare, provides hospital and physician insurance to all Canadian citizens. It does not provide health care directly from government hospitals or through publicly employed physicians. Imagine 10 provincial nonprofit health insurance plans without deductibles, co-insurance or co-payments for medically prescribed treatment. […]