Canada's government monopoly, single-payer health care system is one of the worst ways to achieve universal health insurance coverage -- and Americans should avoid adopting a similar system, concludes this new study from the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute.

The study shows that health care in Canada appears to cost less because Canada does not cover many advanced medical treatments and technologies, common medical resources are in short supply, and access to health care is often severely delayed.

Even on health insurance coverage, the Canadian system does not perform much better than the U.S. when it comes to actually delivering insured access. The study concludes that both Canada and the U.S. should look to countries such as Switzerland or the Netherlands, where the government is not in the business of providing health or drug insurance at all. Instead, individuals in those nations are required by law to purchase comprehensive health insurance in a regulated, pluralistic private-sector market.

People in other health care systems often pay more than Americans do, once taxes are taken into account, writes CMPI's Peter Pitts. Add in the high non-monetary costs of rationed or denied care and waiting lists, and suddenly the vaunted European systems commonly touted as models for the U.S. don't seem like a good deal at all.