Immediately after Pope Francis became the leader of the world's 1.2-billion Catholics this week, he prayed for guidance. And it's little wonder. He is the newly elected CEO of the Vatican. The United States, despite a currency mantra of "In God We Trust," has also been forced to undergo serious soul-searching following its 2008 fiscal catastrophe.

Policy planners and health-policy experts can build their models and do their studies, but patients want high-quality service now, they want it free and they want it effective. They pay their taxes for a health-care system that is among the most expensive in the world. They are not getting enough value for money. Why not?

Many Canadians have developed an insidious culture of self-satisfaction that comes with being told repetitively by politicians and media that we have "the best health care system in the world." We have somehow taken this patent lie as a slice of authentic Canadiana. It makes us feel good, safe and comfortable. But you don't have a "comprehensive and universal" system if it takes two years to get a hip replaced, or eight months to get an MRI after a hard knock to the head. How can we keep a straight face and call our system a caring and "universal" one if many have no where to go?

Does our belief in, and desire to have, a public universal health care system conflict with our human and individual right to have timely access to the care we need if the system is not responsive? That is the question that will soon be before the courts. Dr. Brian Day, former president of the Canadian Medical Association, is forcing the issue. He is now CEO of a private, for-profit hospital in Vancouver. We aren't supposed to have those in Canada, but we do. Everywhere. Why? Because there is a huge market demand for timely and quality health care that is not being met by the public system.

In Canada, the untold story is that although they are insured, 300,000 people are without a primary care doctor, because no matter how many doctors there are, it won't be enough if they have to limit the number of appointments they can grant a month.

I have to admit that in the past I have expressed sharp disagreement with the direction in which Jack Layton took the NDP as leader. However, this does not take away from the immense sadness and shock I felt upon hearing of his passing away.

Ottawa likes to claim credit for supporting Medicare, but is quick to note that responsibility lies with the provinces. The provinces like to assert their jurisdiction over health care but never hesitate to point to "inadequate funding" from Ottawa to explain away failures. Can we get beyond this?

By eliminating the waste inherent in private insurance and by improving therapeutic choices, implementing universal Pharmacare could save Canadians billions of dollars a year.

North Americans have a faddish embrace of an imagined European model that is supposedly free of waiting lists and can serve as models of more efficient and fairer health care for Canada and the U.S.