Political pundits deploy talking points about health care seemingly with frequency and ease. When we hear “medicare is unsustainable” or “public health care spending is out of control,” it is often accompanied by a call for increased private financing or two-tier health care. In reality, Canada spends fewer public dollars on health care than most peer nations, and, in fact, should spend more.

Mark Kennedy / Ottawa Citizen

Former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow, who led a federal inquiry into medicare more than a decade ago, says the public health care system is deteriorating and close to a “tipping point.”

This past week, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall took to Twitter to ask the question: “Is it time to allow people to pay for their own private MRIs in Saskatchewan like they can do in Alberta?” This came after a radio show in which he’d received a call from a patient who’s been waiting three months for an MRI — one of many Saskatchewan patients who are, understandably, frustrated by long waits for essential imaging services.

These wait times are a real problem. For that reason, we should be very wary of false solutions, and look first to evidence before rhetoric takes over.