Health care lacking north of the border

Advocates of nationalized/socialized health care frequently point to Canada and Great Britain as successful models. I personally don't know enough of the details to argue. An IBD editorial had an interview, or something like it, with Claude Castonguay, the "father of Quebec medicare", the government health care plan that went nationwide. Apparently he's lost faith in its efficacy:

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Castonguay advocates contracting out services to the private sector, going so far as suggesting that public hospitals rent space during off-hours to entrepreneurial doctors. He supports co-pays for patients who want to see physicians. Castonguay, the man who championed public health insurance in Canada, now urges for the legalization of private health insurance.

The article goes on to give the all-encompassing reason the programs won't work: "The problem is that government bureaucrats simply can't centrally plan their way to better health care." It goes back to my argument that you can't legislate prosperity.